


Captive Prince Prompt Fills

by HollowIsTheWorld



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Gen, M/M, prompt fills
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-07
Updated: 2016-09-25
Packaged: 2018-07-12 20:19:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 116
Words: 41,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7121161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HollowIsTheWorld/pseuds/HollowIsTheWorld
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of ficlets of various lengths, in response to tumblr prompts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Laurent/Damen - Come Over Here and Make Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent and Damen. "Come over here and make me."

Laurent is glaring at him. 

Not, Damen admits to himself, that Laurent seems to do much else. Damen started cataloging Laurent’s different glares once; so far he’s up to forty-seven, all distinct and with different meanings attached. 

“What?” he asks, trying not to feel too annoyed. “I barely even talked during that meeting, I can’t possibly have messed up that badly.”

He wonders if Laurent had to practice in front of a mirror to learn how to roll his eyes and glare at the same time, or if it was a natural talent he had been born with. 

“Damen, I realize that the subtleties of politics are not in your nature, but you could at least _pretend_  to have an interest in what’s happening.”

“You’re there. You’re better at it than I am and we both know it, why shouldn’t I let you do most of the talking?”

Laurent looks at him as though Damen  is being dense just to get a rise out of him.

In all fairness, Damen has done that before.

“It’s about our image, Damianos. Imagine what your countrymen would say if they knew you let your Veretian partner do all the political maneuvering for you.”

“We were talking about cloth tariffs.” 

“Well, at least you were listening to that much.”

Damen fondly rolls his eyes. He stretches out, hears something pop in his spine. He lies down on the bed and looks over at where Laurent is still standing, all regal Veretian grace, by the door. 

“Do you think you could at least _try_  to put on the appearance of contributing to these meetings?” Laurent asks, and if Damen didn’t know him so well he’d think he was genuinely annoyed. 

But Damen knows Laurent’s particular brand of fondness well, and just smiles. “Come over here and make me,” he says smugly. 

Laurent huffs. “I’m almost certain that isn’t going to help anything.”

He moves to pin Damen in place on the bed all the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	2. Laurent/Damen - Damen, I Can't Do This Without You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent and Damen: "You need to wake up because I can’t do this without you."

Laurent is gritting his teeth together so hard that his jaw is aching, but he can’t stop. 

His head is held high. His back is straight. His face is as cool and neutral as it has ever been. He’s every bit the ice prince - ice _king_  now - that everyone has always said he is. 

His jaw is clenched and his fingernails are digging into his palms, and his knuckles are white. 

‘ _Breathe’_  he thinks, and he’s not sure who he’s talking to. 

From his face, someone might think Damen was sleeping, but only if they’d never seen him sleep. Damen sprawls out in his sleep, opens his mouth, snores. He doesn’t lie on his back, perfectly still, his chest only just barely moving down with every breath.

Laurent swallows and it hurts. 

Paschal left the room a few minutes ago, claiming he needed something from the storeroom. Laurent knows a lie when he hears one, but he doesn’t mind the opportunity to be alone with Damen, to let his composure slip just a few notches. 

He sets one hand on the side of the bed Damen is laid out on. His fingers itch to reach out and take Damen’s hand, but he isn’t sure if that would hurt him. Isn’t sure if he’d be able to let go again if he let himself slip that much. 

“You’re late, you know,” he says casually, as though they’re having a conversation. “You said you would see me in two hours. It’s been two _days_. I know punctuality isn’t your strongsuit, but really, Damianos.”

Damen doesn’t move, doesn’t respond. Laurent watches his chest for a few minutes, reassuring himself that Damen is still breathing, however slow and shallow it may be. Even Paschal can’t say if Damen will wake up. It’s all a waiting game now.

Laurent bends over, rests his forehead gingerly against Damen’s, closes his eyes.

“You need to wake up,” he says, almost too quiet to hear. “I can’t do this without you. And you promised I wouldn’t have to. You _promised_ , Damianos. You promised.”

Damen’s fingers brush against his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	3. Laurent/Damen - If You Keep Looking At Me Like That...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent and Damen. "If you keep looking at me like that we won’t make it to a bed."

Damen wants to pass a law saying that Laurent is not allowed to look this good when he’s sweaty, dirty, and covered in horse hair. It isn’t _fair_. 

Damen is just standing in the middle of the stables, staring at Laurent with his mouth open, trying to get himself under control. 

Laurent’s hair is pushed back from his face and he’s red and the ends of his hair are plastered to his forehead, his temples, and the nape of his neck and he’s covered in hair because his horse is shedding _everywhere_ , and he is beautiful.

He seems to sense Damen staring because he turns around and smirks. Damen wants to kill him when he makes a point of slowly turning back to his horse and continuing to brush her down. “Something wrong, Damianos?” Laurent asks, all innocence. 

He knows what he’s doing to Damen, Damen is sure. Laurent always seems to know.

Damen steps into the stall, right up behind Laurent. 

Laurent tilts his head back, almost lazily, to look Damen in the eye. He almost looks perfectly composed, but Damen knows him well enough to recognize the glint of lust in his eyes. 

“You know, Damianos,” Laurent says conversationally, looking away and back to his horse, “if you keep looking at me like that, we aren’t going to make it into a bed.”

Damen wraps one arm around Laurent’s waist and kisses his ear. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	4. Laurent/Damen - If You Die, I'm Going to Kill You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent and Damen. "If you die, I'm gonna kill you."

“If you die, I am going to kill you,” Damen says through gritted teeth.

Laurent _giggles_. “How does that work?” he asks, head lolling back on his neck to look at Damen’s face. His eyes won’t focus. He looks drunk.

Damen _wishes_ he were drunk. Drunk isn’t scary. Drunk means ‘put Laurent to bed and don’t let him do anything he might regret in the morning.‘ 

Laurent isn’t drunk. Laurent is _concussed_. There is a trickle of blood coming down from his temple, his eyes are glazed over, and he clearly isn’t thinking. 

And, without their horses, they are still at least an hour from the nearest help.  
“It just does, okay?” Damen says. He’s got one hand around Laurent’s middle, making sure he stays upright, since Laurent doesn’t seem very interested in doing it himself. “Just stay with me, Laurent.”

Laurent, who seems to be blissfully unaware of how frantic he is making Damen, smiles at him, leans over, and presses a kiss under his jaw. “Where else would I be?”

Something in Damen’s chest warms at that. “Laurent, this is _not_ the time.”

Laurent hums something that might mean agreement or might mean he’s off in some other world, then trips over a tree root. Damen barely catches him before he collapses to the ground, hauling him back to his feet in a way that has him a little worried he might end up bruising Laurent’s ribs.

Damen swears under his breath and gives up. Laurent’s too out of it to protest now, and if he protests later Damen can deal with it. He scoops Laurent up in his arms like he’s some sort of blushing maiden and keeps walking. 

Laurent giggles into his neck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	5. Laurent/Damen - Is There A Reason You're Naked In My Bed?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent and Damen. "Is there a reason you’re naked in my bed?"

“Is there a reason you’re naked in my bed?” Laurent drawls, pulling the door shut behind. 

Damen beams at him. “We’re _married_ ,” he says. He sounds almost giddy about it.

Laurent reins in his smile. Half the fun is making Damen think he really has to work for Laurent’s attention. “We have been for some time now, Damianos. You’re behaving as though it’s our wedding night.“ 

That isn’t true, the two of them had been unable to keep their hands off each other the entire night of their wedding. Or the following two days. 

Damen reaches out for Laurent, and Laurent slowly starts to make his way towards him. "Why all the extra excitement tonight?” he asks.

“Well, we have to break in the bed, don’t we? It’s practically another wedding night, since we’re in your castle instead of mine.”

Laurent chuckles as he reaches Damen and holds one arm out for him. “Well, I suppose you had better help me undress then.”

Damen is only too happy to comply. “Veretian clothing is much more difficult to get you out of than Akielon clothing,” he complains as he works at the laces. He’s gotten out of practice with them while they’ve been in Akielos.

Laurent leans in and kisses him on the mouth, hard and lingering. “Well, if it’s another wedding night, it’s only fitting that we fit with the traditions of my kingdom this time, don’t you think?”

Damen huffs and pulls his shirt off, then starts working on his pants.  
Laurent grins. “You know,” he says idly, as though he’s talking about the weather during an exceptionally dull meeting, “if we _really_ want to comply with Veretian traditions, there is always the matter of consummating-”

Damen jerks back like he’s been bitten and looks at Laurent with wide-eyed betrayal. “That is _not_ amusing.”

“Oh, I beg to differ.” Laurent kisses him again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	6. Laurent/Damen - Please, Don't Leave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent and Damen. "Please, don’t leave."

Laurent makes a pathetic whining noise Damen wouldn’t have guessed he was capable of and tugs on Damen’s wrist. “Come back to bed.”

Damen leans over and his husband’s temple. “One of us has to go be the king today, and it isn’t going to be you.”

Laurent squints at him in something that Damen can only assume is an attempt at a glare. “I could go if  I wanted to,” he says sulkily.

Damen laughs and Laurent winces at the noise. “With that headache?”

Laurent huffs at him. His fingers are still wrapped around Damen’s wrist. He tugs again. “Please don’t leave me,” he says.

“Begging will do you no good, my love,” Damen says, though he still isn’t pulling away. He brushes a stray lock of Laurent’s hair out of his face. “There’s water on the table for you, and a bowl on the floor for you to be sick in, if you need it.”

Laurent pouts, and it’s one of the cutest things Damen has ever seen. Laurent isn’t in this stage often; this in-between place of hungover and drunk. It always leads to an entertaining change of character, more and more so as Laurent continues to be more comfortable with him. 

“I have to go, Laurent,” he says gently, and starts to pry himself loose from Laurent’s grip.

Laurent relutantly let’s go and curls back up under the blankets. “Hurry back then,” he orders.

Damen kisses him. “Of course.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	7. Laurent/Damen - Wanna Bet?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent and Damen. "Wanna bet?"

“As long as we both shall live, huh?” Damen says, twisting his ring around his finger. “Sure you won’t get sick of me?”

“I think I might be sick of you already,” Laurent replies, but his tone is fond, and Damen can hear that he’s trying not to laugh. 

“Oh? Should I call up a divorce lawyer already?” Damen makes a show of reaching for his cell phone.

Laurent rolls over and on top of him, plants his hands on either side of Damen’s head. He’s grinning, broader than Damen has ever seen. “Don’t even think about it.”

“I don’t know, Laurent,” Damen says, trying not to break character, trying to keep his face straight. “If you’re getting tired of me already it might be best if we call it quits while everything is still easy to divide up.” He reaches up and tucks a lock of Laurent’s hair behind his ear. “I mean, really. You’re bound to want to put an end to this sooner or later.”

“Want to bet?” Laurent says, and even though it’s clear they’re both joking it’s fierce. 

Damen leans up, kisses Laurent like it’s the first time, like it’s the last time, like it’s every time in between. “I don’t take sucker’s bets,” he says.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	8. Laurent/Damen - I Almost Lost You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent and Damen. "I almost lost you."

Laurent is holding his hand and staring at the wall, back to Damen. “I almost lost you,” he says. His voice is flippant, like it’s nothing, like he’s talking about almost losing a quarter on the subway. 

Damen can see the tension in his shoulders. 

He rubs the back of Laurent’s hand with his thumb. “You didn’t,” he answers, and he tries to make his tone as nonchalant as Laurent’s. He doesn’t quite succeed, he doesn’t have the years of experience that Laurent does. 

The room is quiet save for the ticking of the clock above the door. Damen doesn’t think it ticked that loud last week.

“I’m all right, Laurent,” he says gently.

Laurent turns his head just slightly and Damen follows his gaze to the sling holding Damen’s arm. 

“I’m all right,” Damen repeats. “I’m all right. I’m not going anywhere.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	9. Laurent/Damen - Are You Jealous?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent and Damen. "Wait a minute. Are you jealous?"

“And, um, how long _have_ you and Jord known each other?” Damen asks, doing his best to sound casual.

He apparently does a terrible job of it, because Laurent laughs. “Damianos,” he says, dragging out the syllables, his voice fond. “Are you _jealous_?“ 

“What? No! Of course I’m not,” he says, and he can feel his ears burning. 

It’s never any good, lying to Laurent. He just smirks. “If you say so.”

“I’m not! I was just curious. You said he was one of your oldest friends, and since you don’t really seem to have a lot of those-” He cuts himself off and winces. He didn’t mean for his words to come out like that.

Laurent chuckles and slides across the room with catlike grace. “He _is_ one of my oldest friends,” he agrees. “And just for the record…” He leans in, presses a kiss to Damen’s lips. He pulls back just barely; Damen can still feel his breath on his cheeks. “…I like it when you get flustered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	10. Laurent/Damen - Vandalizing an Office

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two prompts: Laurent and Damen. "This is without a doubt the stupidest plan you’ve ever had. Of course I’m in." and "The paint’s supposed to go where?"

“That’s very petty of you,” Damen says.

Laurent is sitting on the edge of Damen’s desk, studying a can of paint. “I feel like some pettiness is justified here.”

Damen looks over his shoulder, across the hall towards their manager’s office. “I suppose you’re right.”

He holds the paint can out towards Damen. “Are you in then?”

“This is,” Damen tells him, “without a doubt the dumbest plan you have ever come up with. Of course I’m in.”

Laurent smiles, and any doubts Damen had had about this vanish in the light of it.

They sneak into the office later that night. Damen is pretty sure Laurent bribed someone to get in. Or flirted past them. 

Once inside, Laurent tosses him two cans of paint, and slips off to one side of the office with a spray can. 

“And the paint goes where?” Damen asks as he works the lid off the container.  
“Somewhere he won’t be able to get it out of,” Laurent says.

Damen chuckles. “You’re a bit of a bastard, you know that, right?”

“Only a bit? You offend me, Damianos.”

Damen pours the paint out slowly across anything that will definitely need to be replaced - their manager’s office chair, his lamp, a stack of folders. He pours a good sized puddle under the desk. This kind of paint takes forever to dry, he knows; if their manager isn’t careful come morning he’ll step right into it. It’ll serve the bastard right.

Behind him, Laurent is spray painting swear words across the walls. 

“What about the bookshelves?” Damen says, jerking his head towards them.

Laurent glances over, shakes his head. “I don’t have it in me to ruin books.”

Damen snorts and shakes his head fondly. Of course he doesn’t. He should have seen that coming. 

He finishes off his paint. “Are we done?”

“Just about.” Laurent steps past him and takes the empty paint cans from him. He sets them along the edge of their manager’s desk, the lids back on them. Save for the few places where paint dripped down the side, Damen could almost believe they hadn’t been opened. Laurent sets his spray cans beside them.

He flashes Damen a smile. “We don’t want to just leave the office a mess now, do we?”

Damen’s sides are starting to hurt from making himself not laugh loud enough to be heard from outside the office. “Of course not,” he answers. “That would be mean.”

Laurent nods. “That’s what I thought.”

He takes Damen by the wrist and tugs him along behind him as they leave. Damen feels light-headed and he doesn’t know if it’s the thrill of what they just did, or the fact that Laurent is standing close enough for Damen to feel his body heat. 

It’s one of those things, Damen figures, that he probably shouldn’t think about too hard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	11. Laurent/Damen - Marry Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent and Damen. "Marry me?"

There’s a movie playing that neither of them are really paying attention to. They’re lying on their couch, legs tangled together. Damen is carding one hand through Laurent’s hair. The other hand is holding one of Laurent’s. 

Damen is thinking about rings. About engagements. He’s thinking about what kind of event Laurent might want, if he should do it in a fancy restaurant or if that’s too cliché . If he should tell anyone else about it beforehand. What kind of ring Laurent might most like to wear.

He’s been thinking for so long now, but none of his ideas sound right. Nothing _feels_  right. 

He’s thinking and thinking, and, suddenly, he realizes he’s talking.  
“Marry me?“ 

Laurent looks up at him, more confused than Damen has ever seen him. "What?”

And this, _this_ feels right. “Marry me?” he asks again, more confidently this time.

Laurent stares at him. “You’re- You’re proposing?”

Damen nods. “I thought about making a big deal out of it, but…”

“I don’t like public displays of affection,” Laurent says, his voice almost too soft for Damen to hear it, despite how close they’re sitting. 

Damen smiles. His subconscious, at least, had known what it was doing. He kisses the back of Laurent’s hand. "Marry me?“ he asks a third time.

Laurent’s face softens, his eyes brighten, and he smiles. "Of course.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	12. Laurent/Damen - I Almost Lost You - Damen to Laurent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent and Damen. "I almost lost you." Damen to Laurent.

They’re sitting in bed together, Damen’s arm around Laurent’s shoulder, Lauren’t head tucked under Damen’s chin, and they’re just taking a moment to themselves, a breather after everything that’s happened. 

Damen turns his head and presses a kiss against Laurent’s hair. “I almost lost you,” he says softly. 

Laurent moves so he can look Damen in the eye. “You’re the one who was stabbed,” he says. Damen isn’t sure if he means to, but Laurent’s fingers brush lightly over the bandage. “If anything, _I_  almost lost _you_.”

“When your uncle took you away,” Damen says. “I wasn’t… I didn’t know if I would make it in time. If it would help anything if I was.”

Laurent kisses him, soft and sweet, with a tenderness Damen wouldn’t have guessed he was capable of a short time ago. “I hadn’t thought you would come.”

Damen remembers Laurent’s face when he had entered the room. “I know you didn’t.”

“And when you did, I was sure all you’d done was condemn yourself alongside me.”

“That thought crossed my mind.” He kisses Laurent again. “You’re worth the risk.”

Lauren shakes his head incredulously. “It is truly a miracle that you have survived this long.”

“It’s a good thing we have each other then, isn’t it? So we can keep saving each other.”

Laurent taps a finger lightly over Damen’s knife wound. “If you make a habit of this, Damianos, it’s going to be _me_  you need saving from.”

Damen chuckles. “Understood.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	13. Erasmus/Torveld - Snowball Fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Erasmus and Torveld. "Don’t you dare throw that snowba-, goddammit!"

The snow is piled up around them in fluffy, powdery mountains that can’t even be properly walked through; you have to jump. 

Erasmus has never seen snow before, and keeps looking back at Torveld with shining eyes. He’s trying to catch snowflakes on his tongue. 

Torveld laughs and leans back to watch the younger man experience the weather. Snow is only fun for so long after all. Torveld is sure Erasmus will be hating it before too much longer; it’s cold and wet and difficult to walk through.  
It takes him a minutes to realize why Erasmus has bent down.

“No,” he says, trying to back without getting snow in his boots. “No, Erasmus, do not throw that snowball- goddamnit!”

Erasmus laughs as the snowball splatters against Torveld’s chest and the sound echoes off the snow around them. He bends down to make another.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Torveld says, and he bends down too. “This is war, you realize that.”

Erasmus beams at him and throws. 

They carry on like that for fifteen minutes, until Erasmus trips and goes facedown in a snowbank.

Torveld walks over and pulls him to his feet. “I think I have some hot chocolate upstairs,” he says.

By the time they reach the apartment Erasmus’ teeth are chattering. Torveld pushes him towards the bedroom. “Go change into something dry. I’ll make you something to drink.”

He prepares a cup of hot chocolate on the stove. Erasmus comes out while he’s at it and settles himself in front of the fireplace. He’s still smiling, and it warms Torveld’s heart to see it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	14. Laurent/Damen - You Fainted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent and Damen. "You fainted…straight into my arms. You know, if you wanted my attention you didn’t have to go to such extremes."

Laurent stirs awake with a throbbing pain in his head.

“Take it easy,” a soft voice says, and someone is brushing his hair out of his face, and Damen’s face slides slowly into focus.

“Wha-” Laurent’s voice cracks. “What happened?”

Damen hands him a cup of water and Laurent slowly sips at it. “You fainted,” Damen says. Laurent can hear him trying to keep his tone calm, but Damen is not much of a liar. He’d been worried. “Straight into my arms. You know, if you wanted my attention you didn’t have to go to such extremes.”

Laurent shifts a little, squinting against the sunlight. “Why did I faint?’

Damen reaches out and gingerly rubs his thumb across Laurent’s temple. “Someone got in a lucky hit. You were bleeding pretty badly when I got to you. Then you fainted.”

“Oh.” It’s not very eloquent, but he feels like he might be about to vomit, so it seems wise to keep his mouth shut. 

Damen is still running his fingers through Laurent’s hair. It feels nice.

“I should let Paschal know you woke up,” Damen says. 

Laurent makes a noncommital noise. “In a minute.”

“He said to get him as soon as there was any change,” Damen insists, but he doesn’t move. 

“In a minute,” Laurent repeats. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	15. Laurent/Damen - I Think I'm In Love With You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent and Damen. "I think I’m in love with you and I’m terrified."

Damen corners Laurent as they’re leaving the office. “You’ve been avoiding me.”

“Have I?” Laurent’s tone is every bit as haughty as the day Damen first met him. It hurts more now that Damen knows there’s more to Laurent than that. 

“You have and you know it. I want to know why.”

“I don’t owe you anything.”

“You owe me an explanation. If you want to hate me, _fine_. But I think we’ve known each other long enough for me to deserve to know why you suddenly stopped talking to me.”

Laurent glares at him, that icy cold stare that sent chillls down Damen’s spine the first time he saw it. Damen stands firm and meets Laurent’s gaze dead-on. 

It seems to take hours, but Laurent cracks first. He looks away, and Damen can just barely see the fracture lines in his mask.

“It’s too much,” he says.

“Too much?” Damen echoes.

Laurent motions at the empty space between them. “It’s too much. This - _us_  - it’s too much. I can’t.”

Damen tilts his head to one side, brow furrowing in confusion. “Did I do something wrong?”

Laurent shakes his head. “No.” He says quietly, fondly, and Damen does not understand.

“Then why…?”

“It’s-”

“Too much. You said that.”

Laurent sighs and looks up to meet Damen’s eyes. He looks almost…scared. Damen doesn’t know what to do with that.

“I think I’m in love with you,” Laurent says, and even from only inches away Damen has to strain to hear it. “I think I’m in love with you and it _terrifies_  me.”

Damen’s heart does a backflip. It’s half excitement - Laurent _loves_  him! - and half frantic worry - Laurent is _scared_  - and Damen doesn’t know how to respond to any of it. 

“It’s too much,” Laurent repeats. “I can’t - I don’t know - I _can’t -”_

Damen hooks a finger under Laurent’s chin and tilts his head back. “I would like to help you figure it out.”

Laurent stares at him. Damen can feel his pulse racing. 

“I love you too,” Damen says softly. 

Slowly, inch by inch, Laurent reaches up and pulls Damen down to kiss him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	16. Erasmus/Torveld - I Got You A Present

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Erasmus and Torveld. "I got you a present."

Torveld stepped into his room to the sight of Erasmus sprawled out on his bed - _their_  bed, really - reading.

Erasmus turned his head and smiled at him. “How was the meeting?” he asked.

“Long. Remarkably successful.”

He moved to sit beside Erasmus on the bed and Erasmus put his book on the table next to the bed so he could give Torveld his full attention.

Torveld ran his fingers through Erasmus’ hair. Erasmus made a pleased sound in response and tilted his head into the touch.

“I didn’t tell you what all these meeting have been about, did I?”

Erasmus shook his head.

“I got you a present.”

Erasmus looked a little confused by what appeared to be a sudden jump in topics, but he sat up and faced Torveld. 

Torveld handed him a key.

Erasmus looked at it for a long moment, then looked back up at Torveld. “I don’t understand.”

Torveld smiled softly, trying to ignore how uncertain he was about the eventual outcome of this. He tapped the key, then tapped the collar around Erasmus’ neck.

He could see the moment realization struck.

Erasmus looked down at the key again, his eyes huge. “You’re - I’m - Wh-”

“King Laurent of Vere and King Damianos of Akielos have both made their stances on slavery very clear,” Torveld told him. “Since getting to know you I’m inclined to agree with them. My brother is in the process of working out the logistics of abolishing slavery in the country as we speak. And I - I wanted to start with you.”

Erasmus curled his fingers around the key for a moment, then moved to start unlocking first one cuff, then the other. 

It was strange, seeing Erasmus with bare wrists. Torveld had stopped noticing the cuffs and the collar a long time ago; had never used them to pull Erasmus along or attached a chain to them. Now that they were coming off, however, Torveld could’t believe he’d ever allowed himself to forget about them, about what they represented.

Erasmus stopped moving suddenly, holding the cuffs. “What’s going to happen to me?” he asked. “Once I take these off?”

“Whatever you want,” Torveld said gently, trying to keep himself from pushing Erasmus to any one decision. “If you want to leave, you can. I’ll provide you with anything you need, anything you want. You can go back to Akielos. You can go find a job somewhere. You have all the options of any free man open to you.”

Erasmus didn’t look at him. “What if I wanted to stay here?”

Torveld had never been more grateful for how poor of a liar Erasmus was. Even when he desperately wanted to hide what he was thinking, some part of it always showed through. 

“If you want to stay here, it will be as your own man. Not as my slave. And you would be welcome here.”

Erasmus looked up then, meeting his eyes. He seemed hopeful, and the fear that had been running through Torveld since he first began thinking about this, the fear that he had been reading Erasmus wrong all this time and he didn’t truly want to be here at all, began to die down. 

Erasmus leaned over and kissed Torveld. As their lips met Torveld heard a _clink_  as Erasmus’ cuffs were dropped to the floor. It occurred to him that he thought this might be the first time Erasmus had ever initiated a kiss without it being blatantly clear that that was what Torveld wanted him to do.

Erasmus pulled away, smiling. He held the key out to Torveld. “Would you unlock the collar for me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can’t remember if cuffs and collars are a thing for slaves in the countries that aren’t Vere, but let’s say that they are because I wanted a physical representation of Erasmus being a slave. Also, I’m pretty sure they don’t unlock because Damen needed a blacksmith to get his off, but shhh. I’m going for a symbolism thing.
> 
> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	17. Laurent/Damen - Did You Just Crack A Smile?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two prompts: Laurent and Damen. "I think I’m in love with you and I’m terrified." and "Have I entered an alternate universe or did you really just crack a smile for me? "

“You drink too much coffee,” Damen says, entering the break room to see Laurent stirring a spoonful of sugar into his cup.

“That is a lie,” Laurent replies, and he actually sounds offended. “There is no such thing as too much coffee.”

“There is, and you’ve reached the line.”

Damen sees Laurent’s expression flicker for a moment before he hides it behind his cup. 

“Wait,” Damen says, grinning. “Was that a smile?”

“Of course not,” Laurent says haughtily, but Damen can still see that the corners of his mouth are twitching up. 

“It _is!”_ Damen says. “Have I entered an alternate universe? Were you replaced by an alien last night? You just cracked a smile for me.”

“It’s the caffeine,” Laurent says, and he takes his cup of coffee and leaves to go back to work. “Don’t get used to it.”

Damen leans against the counter. Laurent smiled. Laurent _smiled_. At _him_. That had been nice. That had been _amazing_. Damen starts to wonder if he could make it happen again, see it properly this time, instead of only for a moment before Laurent made his face neutral again -

Oh. Oh no. 

Damen recognizes the tell-tale dance his heart is doing in his chest. 

He’s falling in love. He’s falling in love with _Laurent_. 

His heart thuds painfully in his chest and it’s half longing and half terror. 

 _He’s fallen in love with Laurent_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	18. Laurent/Damen - Never Do That Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two prompts. Laurent and Damen. "Don’t you ever do that again!" and "I swear it was an accident."

“Are you just ignoring me?” Laurent asked. 

Damen didn’t look up from the documents he was looking over for trade negotiations tomorrow.

Laurent, unused to Damen ignoring him, huffed his displeasure. “Damianos,” he said, “it wasn’t _that_  bad.”

Damen looked up then and glared. 

“Don’t you think you’re being a little dramatic about this?” Laurent asked.

Damen’s eyes flicked up to the bandage around Laurent’s head, then back down to Laurent’s eyes.

“It was an _accident_ , Damen. It isn’t as though I _wanted_ to be catapulted off of my horse. And I certainly didn’t want to have to be carried back to the castle, like some new bride being brought across the threshold.”

Damen did not appear amused. He pointed sternly at Laurent. “Don’t you _ever_  do that again.”

“Damen, I didn’t mean to do it the first time. Concussions aren’t my idea of a good time either.”

Damen stood up and marched to the bed like a man on a mission. He cupped Laurent’s face in his hands and locked eyes with him. “Never. Do. That. Again.”

Laurent pushed himself up and kissed Damen’s mouth. “But I do so love being fussed over.”

Damen was trying to look annoyed, but Laurent could see him trying not to laugh. “Laurent, I swear, I will divorce you.”

“No, you won’t.”

“No, I won’t.” He kissed him again. “Never do that again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	19. Laurent/Damen - Boo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent and Damen. "Boo."

As far as ideas go, Damen has had better ones than inviting Laurent over for scary movies on Halloween. He should have known that Laurent ‘Made of Ice and Steel’ wouldn’t be at all phased by horror. 

Damen isn’t a wimp, but he does jump a little when things leap out of the closet, and, come on, most normal people react when they see someone get murdered by monsters. That is a normal, human reaction.

Unless you’re Laurent, apparently.

Laurent is sitting on Damen’s couch, sipping a soda and eating a popcorn, looking almost bored, like they’re watching a nature documentary.

Damen is trying to stay composed. He has to talk to Laurent at work tomorrow, he will _not_  give Laurent the satisfaction of being able to mock him about tonight. 

Damen has seen all these movies before, which is his saving grace. He isn’t even watching at this point, he is doing his best to remember what happens next and steeling himself. It’s going well, he thinks.

Until Laurent’s phone chimes and Damen jumps so hard the couch moves.

Grateful they’re watching in the dark and Laurent can’t see him blushing, Damen glances over at him.

Laurent’s looking at him, face illuminated by his phone, one eyebrow raised. “Boo,” he says.

Damen glares at him. Laurent smirks. 

Damen waits until Laurent focuses his attention on his phone, then hits him over the head with a pillow. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	20. Laurent/Damen - Keep Playing With My Hair

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent and Damen. Writer's preference.

_“_ You have an obsession, Damianos,” Laurent says in a sleepy voice.

Damen smiles and looks down at him. They’re in bed, Damen with sitting up against the headboard, Laurent lying down with his head in Damen’s lap.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Liar.”

Damen pretends not to have heard and continues running his fingers through Laurent’s golden hair. 

“I’m not complaining, mind you,” Laurent says, shifting to make himself more comfortable. “That feels good.”

Damen makes a humming sound as he continues. 

“All I’m saying,” Laurent pauses for a moment to yawn, “is that you have an obsession with my hair. I can’t say I blame you, I do have beautiful hair.”

Damen chuckles. “Oh, you do?”

Laurent nods. His eyes are drifting slowly closed. “Everyone tells me so.”

Damen would never admit it aloud but he was inclined to agree with everyone. Nikandros liked to tell him that he was biased due to his long-lasting preference for blonds, but Damen didn’t see how anyone _couldn’t_  like Laurent’s hair. Or the rest of him, really. Laurent was beautiful. 

“Don’t _stop_ ,” Laurent says, opening one eye to glare up at him. Damen hadn’t realized he’d stopped moving his hand. 

He smiles, bends down to kiss Laurent’s forehead, and starts up again.

“Much better,” Laurent murmurs, and falls asleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	21. Laurent/Damen - I Could Give You A Massage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent and Damen. "Do you…well…I mean…I could give you a massage?"

The moment the door to their chambers shut, Laurent dropped his composure, slumped his shoulders, and threw himself face first on the bed. 

“Never let me do that again,” he commanded, voice muffled by the pillows.

Damen tried not to sound too amused, but it was difficult.

“The racing and hunting competition part? Or just challenging Makedon in general?”

“Don’t laugh at me, Damianos,” Laurent said, turning his head so Damen can hear him better. “Why do we continue to spend time with that man?”

“You like him.”

“I do _not_ and your accusation offends me.” He groaned and buried his face in the pillows again. “I ache _everywhere_.”

Damen sat down beside him. “Do you - well, if you’d like, I could give you a massage?”

Laurent moved his head enough to eye him warily. “If that is an innuendo for something, Damen, I really do not feel up to it.”

Damen rolled his eyes. “I mean a _massage_. Do you want one or not?”

Laurent huffed. “I suppose.”

Which was Laurent’s way of saying ‘yes, _please_.’ 

Damen started with Laurent’ shoulders and neck, then slowly worked his way down. Laurent moaned whenever Damen hit a particularly sore area and it was very distracting.

“If you keep making noises like that,” Damen warned him, “this massage is going to become an innuendo for something else after all.”

Laurent smirked at him. “What can I say? You’re good with your hands.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	22. Laurent/Damen - We'll Be Trapped For A While

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent and Damen. "Looks like we’ll be trapped for a while…"

The elevator shuddered to a stop somewhere between floors twelve and thirteen, according to the numbers above the door. The lights flickered for a moment and then they were gone too, leaving them with only the emergency lights.

Damen frowned and jabbed at the emergency call button. Nothing happened. 

“Quite the power outage,” Laurent said calmly, as though he had known the elevator was going to break down with them inside. 

Damen rolled his eyes. “Looks like we’re going to be trapped in here for a while,” he said. “Probably until they get the power back on.”

Laurent said nothing, but shrugged out of his jacket and sat down. 

Damen stood for a few more seconds out of some sense of pride but had to admit that Laurent probably had the right idea. He sat down to, across from Laurent. His longer legs had his feet stretching out almost to Laurent’s knees.

“You aren’t claustrophobic, are you?” Damen asked, mostly to fill some of the quiet.

Laurent looked at him like he was an idiot. Which Damen was getting used to. “No.”

“Good. I’m not helping you deal with an anxiety attack if you are.”

Laurent scoffed. “Damen, you’re the type of person who probably rescues kittens from storm gutters. You’d help me.”

Damen didn’t dignify that with a response, in no small part because Laurent was right.

Ten minutes of silence later, Laurent nudged Damen’s leg with his foot. In the dim lighting of the elevator, his blue eyes almost seemed to glow. Damen allowed himself a moment to admit that he really was very attractive. Then immediately shut the thought back down again. “What?”

Laurent shrugged. “I’m bored. You’re the closest thing I have to entertainment.”

Damen rolled his eyes. “Stop talking.”

Laurent leaned forward, eyes dark. “ _Make me.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	23. Laurent/Damen - Laurent, Please Wake Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent and Damen. "You need to wake up because I can’t do this without you." Damen saying it to Laurent.

There are voices shouting everywhere, but Damen has stopped listening to anything except for his own pleas and Laurent’s shallow breathing.

He has one arm around Laurent, holding up his head, and is propping him up against his leg. His other hand is pressed against the hole in Laurent’s chest, trying to slow the bleeding.

“Stay with me,” he begs, his voice cracking. “Stay with me, Laurent, _please_.”

Laurent doesn’t twitch. 

“Just open your eyes,” Damen pleads. “Just something, Laurent, _anything_. Just something that says you’ll pull through this.”

Jord ran for Paschal already. It feels like he’s been gone for hours. 

“Laurent, _wake up_.” He realizes he’s using his king voice, the one he uses when people need to stop arguing with him. 

It doesn’t work on Laurent. It’s never worked on Laurent. 

Damen’s shaking all over, save for the hand pressing against Laurent’s wound, somehow. 

“You need to wake up,” he says, and he thinks he might be crying now. “You need to wake up. I can’t do this without you. _Please_.”

He can feel Laurent’s heartbeat and hear his breathing. Neither of them feel like they’re supposed to. 

“Please,” Damen whispers, feeling broken. “Please, please, please. Please, just wake up.”

Laurent doesn’t move. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	24. Laurent/Damen - You Did All of This For Me?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent and Damen. "You did all of this for me?"

Laurent stopped dead in the doorway of his and Damen’s apartment.

It was dark inside, save for the light from the doorway and the windows, and candles on the kitchen table. There were roses in a vase, and Damen was setting out plates. He looked up at Laurent and smiled. 

“You’re right on time.”

Laurent stepped inside and shut the door behind him. “Roses and candlelight, Damianos? Are you trying to woo me?”

Damen stepped over, kissed the corner of Laurent’s mouth, and stepped away again. “I think I’ve already succeeded in that.”

Laurent realized he was smiling. He shrugged out of his jacket, hung it up, and kicked off his shoes. 

“You did all this for me?” he asked, following Damen into the kitchen, where dinner was being pulled out of the oven.

“No,” Damen said, rolling his eyes. “I did it for my _other_  boyfriend.”

“Ah, yes, him. Now, see, _that_  makes sense.”

Damen loaded up the plates and came back to set the dishes he was done with in the sink. He kissed Laurent again. “Of course I did this for you.”

Laurent’s glad there’s so little light in the apartment right now; he’s sure he’s gone red all over. 

“I thought you could use it,” Damen went on, pushing Laurent into his chair. “You’ve had a pretty shitty week.”

There was a glass of wine in front of him and Laurent sipped at it so he didn’t have to reply. 

A warm feeling spread out in his chest, making him feel almost giddy. It’s a strange feeling, though one he’s getting more and more used to when Damen is around. 

It’s a pleasant one. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	25. Erasmus/Torveld - Come Over Here and Make Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Erasmus and Torveld. "Come over here and make me."

Erasmus, Torveld is discovering, is an absolute terror when he feels comfortable and safe. He’s been officially not a slave for exactly nine days now, and he’s reminding Torveld of when his nieces and nephews were toddlers, except that it is infinitely more endearing coming from Erasmus. Besides, Torveld figures that after spending his whole life as a slave, he’s earned this.

Erasmus’ favorite word has become ‘no’. 

They’ll be half undressed, kissing on the bed, and Erasmus will, very suddenly, just pull away and say ‘no’. 

And Torveld will stop because that’s the right thing to do. He would have stopped when Erasmus was a slave too, but Erasmus never said no then. 

It never lasts long. His record is maybe thirty seconds before he starts giggling and restarts what they were doing. 

Still. Torveld is not that young of a man anymore, and Erasmus is doing things to him. Most of them fun, but still.

Erasmus is lying on the bed, and he’s teasing Torveld, Torveld can see it in his eyes.

“I don’t think I want to be touched right now,” Erasmus says casually, but he can’t keep the grin off his face.

Torveld isn’t sure if he just finds teasing fun or if he’s relishing in being allowed to say no. Torveld sighs, but smiles fondly. “Should I leave?”

“No, I don’t think so. You can just sit over there.” He waves his hand towards Torveld’s desk.

Torveld laughs. “What do you expect me to do over there?”

“Important royal things.” Erasmus has his arms over his head and keeps arching his back in that way he knows drives Torveld crazy. 

“You’re teasing me.”

Erasmus’ grin grows wider. “And if I am?”

“You tell me.”

“Well, if I’m teasing you, you’re just going to have to come over here and make me stop, aren’t you?”

Torveld bent over Erasmus, brushing his fingers over where the collar used to be. “I’d never make you do anything,” he says softly before kissing him.

Erasmus can’t stop smiling long enough to kiss back. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	26. Laurent/Damen - Hey! I Was Gonna Eat That!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent and Damen. "Hey! I was gonna eat that!"

“Laurent,” Damen said, laying both hands flat on the table where Laurent was sitting, “do you understand how labels work?”

Laurent looked lazily up at him. “Assuming you’re referring to the practice of labeling food that’s in the fridge, a label is information that is printed or somehow attached to a container. In the case of the break room refridgerator, that information is usually the name of the person who brought in the food.”

Damen glared, reached out, and flipped over the lid of the tupperware container that Laurent was currently eating out of. ‘Damen’ was printed across it.

“So is the problem that you just can’t read?”

Laurent made a point of maintaining eye contact as he took another bite. “If I hadn’t known it was yours, Damen,” he said in his slow, drawling voice, “I wouldn’t have _taken_  it.”

“That was my lunch.”

“I am aware of that.”

“I was going to eat that.” 

“And I am successfully preventing you from doing so. Unless you would like to leap across the table and fight me for it?”

That was sounding more and more tempting by the second. Damen actually had to take a deep breath and remind himself that yes, he really did need this job.

Damen saw Jord enter out of the corner of his eye. He glanced over at them, saw the way Damen was standing - clearly angry at Laurent - and glared. 

What Laurent had ever done to make Jord his own personal attack dog, Damen couldn’t fathom. 

He cursed under his breath and stomped out of the break room. He refused to look back over his shoulder, knowing that all he would see would be Laurent’s stupidly attractive face gloating over his lunch. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	27. Laurent/Damen - Nightmare

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Damen comforting Laurent after a nightmare.

When Damen first stirred awake, it took him a minute to realize what woke him.  **  
**

Laurent was in his arms, the way they’d fallen asleep, back to him. And he was as rigid as a board.

“Laurent?” he asked, voice slurred with sleep.

Laurent somehow managed to tense up even farther.

Damen sat up and pulled away a few inches, concerned. “Laurent, talk to me.” He reached his hand out to touch Laurent’s back but stopped himself, unsure if it would be welcome right now.

Laurent pushed himself up slowly, stiffly, not looking at Damen. Even in the dark of the bedroom, Laurent looked pale and Damen could see that the muscles in his jaw were clenched.

“Laurent-” he tried again.

“Don’t,” Laurent ordered. His voice was tight. He didn’t look at Damen. “Don’t touch me.”

“Okay.” Damen was careful to keep his voice low, both so he didn’t spook Laurent and so the guards outside their doors wouldn’t hear anything. He was sure this was one of those situations where Laurent wanted as much privacy as possible. “I won’t touch you.”

Laurent took a shaky breath. His hands were clenched into fists, his knuckles white. His eyes were closed.

“Do you need anything? Can I-”

Laurent shook his head. “I’ll be fine.”

Damen paused unsure of how hard he could push this line right now. “You don’t have to go through this alone anymore,” he finally said, softly and carefully. A beat of silence passed between them and then he said, “Was it about your uncle?”

Laurent said nothing, but the muscle that jumped in his jaw told Damen the answer.

Damen swallowed down the surge of hate that washed through him. Nightmares were knew but faint traces of what the Regent had done weren’t, and Laurent tended to be even more on the defensive whenever one of them was present. If Damen sounded angry, it just made it worse.

Besides, the Regent was already dead. There was nowhere for Damen’s hate to go.

“You don’t have to go through this alone,” Damen repeated. “You shouldn’t go through this alone. Laurent, I’m right here and I-”

Laurent moved and for a moment Damen thought he was going to get out of bed or maybe throw a punch, but instead he turned and rested his forehead against Damen’s shoulder.

Damen froze, his mouth still open. He wanted to hold him, to brush his hair back and promise that everything would be all right in the end, but he didn’t want to touch Laurent without his express permission. This wasn’t the time for exploring boundaries through anything but words.

They sat there for several minutes, no sound but their breathing in the room.

“Hold me,” Laurent finally said, so quietly that Damen doubted he would have heard it if he hadn’t been listening so intensely.

Damen moved slowly, one hand going up to rest softly on the back of Laurent’s neck. He wrapped his other arm around Laurent’s waist and gently pulled him closer. Laurent came willingly, pulling Damen closer in turn as he went.

They settled into their new positions slowly, with Damen propped up on a few of their pillows, Laurent with his head on Damen’s chest. Their arms wrapped around one another.

Damen ran his fingers gently through Laurent’s hair. He wanted to tell Laurent that is was over, he was safe now, his uncle was dead. But Laurent knew all that already and Damen couldn’t imagine he would appreciate being told. Laurent was angry at himself for how his uncle affected him often enough already.

Damen held Laurent as close as he could and waited for him to fall back asleep. If another nightmare came, Damen would be ready for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	28. Laurent/Damen - Govart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Damen finds out what happened between Laurent and Govart at the begining of King's Rising.

Damen ran his fingers across the scar on Laurent’s shoulder. They were lying in bed, face to face, curled up against each other, Laurent almost asleep.

“I know you lied to me about how you got this,” Damen said slowly, not looking up from the scar.

Laurent raised an eyebrow. “Do you?”

“I know you pretty well by now, Laurent. There was something you didn’t want to talk about. Something involving how you ended up with a scar on your shoulder. Something that kept you from making it to the battle on time that day.”

“It’s been months since that, Damen. Why confront me now?”

He was using that tone that Damen recognized as him trying to get Damen to go to a different topic, to forget what he’d been asking about in the beginning.

Damen refused to let him. “It didn’t seem like the time until now. What really happened?’

“Does it matter?”

“If it didn’t, you would tell me.”

Damen allowed the room to fall silent - Laurent didn’t respond well to being pushed. His fingers left Laurent’s scar to run lightly along his jawline. Laurent tilted into the touch, just barely.

“Govart captured me,” he said at last. His tone was casual and flippant, as though this was unimportant, as though Damen had asked him about what he’d had for breakfast last week. It was honest, however, and Damen was willing to let Laurent pretend none of this mattered as long as he learned what had happened.

“I aggravated him into driving a knife into my shoulder,” Laurent continued. “And he left it there, which was idiotic of him. It meant I had a weapon. I used it and the chair he’d had me tied to take him out. I killed him and let myself out of my cell.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? Later, I mean. I know you well enough to know you didn’t want to show any weakness after… With everything that was happening then.”

“It didn’t matter. It still doesn’t, really.”

“Laurent, you were captured. If you ended up with a knife in your shoulder Govart was torturing-”

“I won. I beat him. And, as you pointed out, I was hardly feeling friendly to you at the time. And I thought we agreed to leave some of the more complicated parts of our pasts in the past?” He laid his hand over Damen’s scar, as if Damen might somehow not realize what he meant. “What happened with Govart isn’t affecting me now. It doesn’t matter.”

Damen wanted to argue. He wanted to point out that Laurent shouldn’t have had to go through that, shouldn’t have had to deal with the aftermath on his own. He wanted to kill Govart himself for daring to lay a hand on Laurent.

But Laurent, as much as it pained Damen to admit it, was right. There was nothing to be gained from rehashing it. It was months too late for knowing about it to change anything.

Damen sighed and pulled Laurent into kiss him.

“Does that mean you’re going to let it go?” Laurent asked when they pulled away.

“One condition. If you ever get captured again, you have to tell me.”

“My dear barbarian, isn’t it your job to make sure such a thing doesn’t happen?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	29. Laurent/Damen - Confronting the Regent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Damen confronting the regent in prison.

Damen wasn’t sure what he was doing here. What he thought this might accomplish. All he knew was that there was some part of him that couldn’t let the former Regent go to his death tomorrow without Damen coming to see him.

Damen wasn’t sure how to think of the man. He was no longer the Regent - Laurent was King in full and the man sitting in the cell in front of Damen was nothing more than a traitor and a villain. He was Laurent’s uncle, but Damen didn’t like thinking of him that way. It carried an implication that he was Laurent’s family, that Laurent perhaps owed him something or should love him despite what he had done.

The thought of what the man had done caused Damen’s stomach to twist unpleasantly.

The man looked up when he heard Damen approach. He didn’t look so important now, with bags under his eyes and his skin pale. Something in Damen was viciously pleased to see him look uncomfortable.

His head was still high though. He still held himself like he thought he had a right to the throne.

Damen wanted to throw open the cell door and kill him for daring to sit like that.

“Prince Damianos,” the man said slowly. “Apologies, King Damianos now, isn’t it? You and my nephew really did make yourselves a nice alliance, didn’t you?”

He was trying to strike a nerve and Damen couldn’t say it wasn’t working. But he hadn’t come down here to give the man the satisfaction of a reaction.

“You’re going to die tomorrow,” Damen said, trying to match his voice to the bored tone Laurent was so good at using when pretending not to care. He didn’t do too terribly, he thought. This man, at least, would not know Damen well enough to see through it.

“It would seem so.” He stood up and stepped to the bars. “Tell me, Damianos. Which of my crimes do you think were the worst? What, in your eyes, means I deserve to lose my head tomorrow? It can hardly be that you think I was bad for Vere. You don’t care about Vere. Is it that I allied with your brother? Are you angry that I knew who you were and still allowed you to be treated as a slave?” He leaned forward and Damen braced himself for the remark he had been expecting to come since he’d begun thinking about coming down to see him. “Is it that I had Laurent first?”

If Damen hadn’t been steeling himself for just that taunt he would have lunged forward and killed the man right then and there, with his bare hands if necessary. Even prepared, he felt his hands clench into fists, his teeth ground together with the effort of keeping his mouth closed, and his whole body tensed. He felt as taut as a drawn bowstring.

The man had the audacity to smile. “I was right then. You would have preferred it if your beautiful prince had been a virgin the first time you fucked him?”

Don’t give him the satisfaction. “You’re going to die,” Damen repeated. “You’re going to die for betraying your family. Your brother. Your nephew. You’re going to die for abusing their trust.”

The man sneered at him. “Why did you come down here?”

Damen wasn’t sure, but he wasn’t going to admit that. Not to him. “I wanted a clear image of what you look like,” he answered instead. “I won’t be close enough to see your face during the execution. I want to be able to imagine your face as the axe comes down.”

He turned on his heel and walked away.

Somehow, he managed to keep from shaking until he emerged from the dungeon.

“You aren’t supposed to be moving around.”

It really had been too much to hope that Laurent wouldn’t find out about his trip to the jail cell.

“I had something to do.”

Laurent’s eyes flitted to the door and back to Damen again. “Did it help?”

“Not really.”

“Did you expect it to?”

Damen sighed. “I don’t know. I just - I don’t understand him.”

Laurent took him by the arms and pulled him close. “Don’t try to. The only people capable of understanding him are people who are like him. And I would much prefer for you not to be like him.”

Damen leaned down and touched their foreheads together and they stood there for a while, sealing themselves off from the rest of the world.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	30. Laurent/Damen - Nikandros and Laurent Talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Nikandros coming to accept Damen and Laurent's relationship and getting along with Laurent.

As much as it pained Nikandros to admit it, Damen wasn’t an idiot. A little too trusting, perhaps, a bit naive, but he wasn’t stupid. Nikandros trusted Damen, and was usually content to yield to his judgement on any given situation.

But Laurent of Vere set his teeth on edge. If Damianos was going to jeopardize his safety and the well-being of his kingdom for anything, it was going to be a face like that.

And maybe Nikandros was wrong. Maybe Laurent was somehow deserving of all the trust and adoration Damen was giving him. But, so soon after finally being rid of Kastor, Nikandros was wary. Akielos could only take so much political unrest.

He watched Laurent like a hawk as the meeting with the Vaskians dragged on, and then it was only him and Laurent in the room.

Laurent had shown no sign that he’d noticed Nikandros watching, but as soon as they were alone he turned to Nikandros with an expression that Nikandros might describe as mildly amused. “Do you think I’m going to leap across the table and kill him at any moment? In front of guards and ambassadors? And you?”

Nikandros met his gaze with a firm glare, unwilling to admit that Laurent had a point. If he was plotting against Damianos, the Veretian king was more than intelligent enough to make sure there weren’t witnesses.

“I don’t know what you’ll do,” Nikandros said coolly. “I don’t know what you want. Caution seems like the wisest course of action.”

“You may want to be more discreet with your caution. Damianos has noticed as well, and he can be incredibly short-tempered.”

“Is that a threat?”

Laurent made a noise that might have been the first hint of a laugh, but his mouth didn’t show any indication of a smile. “Hardly. The worst you would be in for is your king’s disappointment and a lecture. Seeing as he is your friend, I thought you may wish to avoid that.”

They stood there, looking at each other, for a while. Laurent looked almost bored, but made no move to leave.

“Akielos has faced enough threats,” Nikandros said at last.

“As has Vere.”

“This marriage you two have come up with - Is it just for politics?”

This time Laurent did smile, as genuinely as Nikandros had ever seen him. “No. The politics are secondary, as it happens. We’re just fortunate enough for our personal interests to align with our political ones.”

“The fate of two kingdoms are to be decided by your personal interests.”

“Nikandros, if I had answered that it was only for politics, you’d be upset about that as well.”

“I don’t trust you.”

“I would be surprised if you did. I have earned Damen’s trust. You’ve only seen the scars of what I did before that.”

The image of Damen’s back flashed through Nikandros’ mind. The cuff around his wrist.

The matching cuff around Laurent’s wrist caught his eye as Laurent lifted his hand to brush his hair behind his ear.

“I don’t understand you.”

“I’m glad.”

Nikandros excused himself.

A few hours later, he passed Damen and Laurent in the hallway. The two of them didn’t seem to see him, tucked away in a corner speaking in low voices.

Nikandros paused for a moment and watched them. Their heads were bent together, their bodies curled towards the other as though to block out everything else. Damen’s right hand and Laurent’s left were held between them, their fingers intertwined.

Nikandros didn’t understand Laurent of Vere. But it was becoming clear there was a part of him Nikandros was missing.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	31. Laurent/Damen - Slave Laurent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: If Laurent was sent as the slave instead of Damen.

The Veretian slave, Damen could admit, was extremely attractive. He could understand why Vere’s king - recently crowned, after the assassination of his nephew - had sent him this one, specifically. At a glance, he seemed like a wonderful partner to share his bed with. 

Any further looks were more than enough to quell Damen’s interest. 

There was something cold and harsh in the slave’s bright blue eyes. Something about the way he held himself that didn’t match the behavior of any slave Damen had ever met. There was a tightness to his shoulders, a tension in his jaw. 

Damen couldn’t put his finger on why, but something about the man made him think about cobras, and the way there were people who would keep them as pets because they were beautiful. How, even after years of living together, the snake would eventually turn and bite its master. 

A beautiful face wasn’t worth a bite like that. 

The slave had been taken to Damen’s room, and now Damen was watching him, trying to work out what set this slave so far apart from every other Damen had met. 

“I thought Vere didn’t have slaves,” Damen said after it had been silent for a while. He had wanted to voice the same thought to his father, but had been unwilling to risk the statement being taken as some sort of slight against Vere’s new king.

The slave smiled, though it struck Damen as more a baring of teeth. “I’m an exception, it would seem.”

“You weren’t born a slave then?”

“One can be born a great many things in Vere. A slave is not one of them.”

“You must have committed quite the crime,” Damen said, “to be sent to me as a slave.”

“I suppose I did, in the eyes of… the king.”

Damen noticed the long pause. “Treason, then?”

One of the slave’s lips peeled back in a sneer. “Only because I failed.”

“Treason should be punished by death.”

“I believe he felt I would find this more painful.”

“Which part? Being a slave? Being in Akielos?”

“Sharing your bed.”

Damen paused a moment at that. He knew very little about this new king of Vere, but this conversation was suggesting that the man was crueler than he had been led to believe. He wondered if he should mention it to his father. 

“Well,” he said at last, “I am afraid the king of Vere will be disappointed on that front.”

The slave tilted his head, puzzled. 

“I have no intention of bedding you,” Damen clarified. 

The slave stared at him. 

“Unless you _want_  to be in my bed.”

Slowly, the slave shook his head, still staring. 

“Then I don’t want you there. Or anywhere, really. I have plenty of slaves who enjoy their duty, I don’t need one who might be plotting my death.”

He waved the slave away. For a minute, the man just stood there, apparently mystified by what had just happened. Some of the tension seemed to be easing out of his stance. Slowly, he turned away, and left the room. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	32. Laurent/Damen - Older

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Damen and Laurent. Growing old together.

Damen sat up, stretched, and heard something in his back pop a few times.

Behind him, Laurent chuckled. “I think you’re getting old, Damianos.”

Damen turned his head to look at his husband, still sprawled out across the pillows. “And you’re just full of youthful exuberance, are you?”

“Of course. My back isn’t making that sound.”

“You weren’t standing half the night, listening to ambassadors complain about things. Don’t think I don’t know that you arranged to have that hunt run late.”

Laurent didn’t deny it, only smiled. Damen leaned across the bed to kiss him. Laurent lifted his hands to run them through Damen’s hair. “And what’s your excuse for why you’re the one with gray hair?”

“You like my gray hair.”

“I do. It makes you look regal and wise, which I find endlessly amusing.”

“And I’m not so sure that you aren’t right behind me with it.” Damen ran his fingers lightly through Laurent’s hair. It wasn’t as obviously graying as Damen’s was, but it was no longer the bright gold it had been in his youth.

Laurent kissed him rather than reply, and it was a few minutes before Damen managed to pull away.

“We’re supposed to be in the throne room soon,” he said, though he made no effort to get off the bed.

“We’re the kings. I’m sure they’ll wait for us. Besides, we have children. What use are they if they don’t cover for us sometimes?”

Damen laughed. “I’ll be sure to tell them that’s what you think of them.”

“It’s good practice.”

“Of course.”

Laurent leaned up for another kiss, then slumped back down into the cushions, smiling. “Come on,” he said. “Come back to bed. Properly.”

“We have a meeting. If we aren’t there soon they’re going to send someone in here to look for us.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve been seen.”

“Laurent, I love you with all of my heart and soul but if you continue to be so completely shameless about the guards walking in on us I am going to have to put an end to this relationship.”

Laurent rolled his eyes fondly. “It’s good to know that some things simply never change.”

“Things like Veretians having no sense of dignity.”

“And Akielons having a sense of dignity I cannot begin to understand.” For a moment, Laurent didn’t move beyond continuing to play with Damen’s hair. “I still sometimes feel as though this is some sort of wonderful dream,” he said softly. “Even after all these years.”

Damen kissed him with all the reassurance and love he could manage. “You’re not.” In one swift motion he got off the bed and moved to get dressed. “But if that is an attempt to get me to stay in bed with you, it isn’t going to work.”

Laurent scoffed and Damen heard the rustling of sheets that meant Laurent was getting out of bed too.

Laurent’s back popped as he stood. Damen smirked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	33. Laurent/Damen - Forgive Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent and Damen. "Forgive Me."

Laurent stepped into their room and sat beside him on the bed, looking more somber than usual. A few moments of silence passed between them as Damen waited for Laurent to speak. Instead, the other man reached out, took Damen’s hand, and laced their fingers together. “Forgive me,” he said, his voice quiet. He didn’t look at Damen’s face as he said it. 

“For what?”

“I killed your brother.”

Somehow, they had been managing to avoid bringing that up over the last few days. Damen had been content to let the subject lie. He hadn’t worked out how he felt about it all yet. 

“I killed yours,” he said at last. 

Laurent squeezed his hand. Damen lifted their joined hands and kissed the back of Laurent’s. 

 _Forgiveness_  wasn’t the word either of them were looking for. It wasn’t what they needed. But they had acceptance, they had love, they had each other. Somehow, that was enough. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	34. Laurent/Damen - I Need Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent and Damen. "I Need Time."

“There you are,” Damen said, slowing as he came up behind Laurent. “You had the guards in a panic, disappearing like that.”

“Are they still looking for me?”

“I told them I knew where you were and to stand down.”

“ _Did_  you know where I was? Or did you just get lucky?”

“I guessed. You came out here the last time we were here too.”

Laurent didn’t respond to that. He hadn’t looked up at Damen yet, staring out across the field still. 

The battlefield where Auguste had died. 

“It’s different than last time,” Laurent said slowly. “Or maybe I am. I - I think I’m dealing with it better than I was before.” He turned his head then, meeting Damen’s eyes. “I just need some time. I have some things to think through. I’ll be back soon, I promise.”

Damen nodded. “I’ll make sure you aren’t disturbed. Take all the time you need.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	35. Laurent/Damen - I Won't Lose You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent and Damen. "I Won't Lose You." Damen saying it to Laurent.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” Laurent said as Damen shut the door with more force than was strictly necessary. “I hardly expected them to welcome the news that we are uniting our countries with open arms. War and tension are profitable things.”

“How are you so calm?” Damen asked. “They’re going to try and tear us apart, you know that.”

“Of course they will try. But it’s up to us if they succeed, isn’t it?” Only a few tense muscles that anyone less used to Laurent than Damen would miss gave any indication that Laurent wasn’t as confident as he claimed. 

Damen sighed. “That’s true. I had just hoped to be done fighting, is all.” He stepped across the room and took Laurent’s hand in his. “But I won’t lose you. No matter what they try. I _won’t_.” The truth of his words shone out of him; in the fierce tone of his voice, the set of his jaw, the steel in his eyes. 

Laurent brushed his hand across the back of Damen’s hand. “And I won’t lose you. If they seek to part us from one another, I think they will find they have started a fight they cannot finish.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	36. Laurent/Damen - Stalker

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Damen has a stalker.

Damen knew Laurent to well to not think he would panic, but he had expected _some_ reaction.

Instead, Laurent continued sipping his coffee and reading the newspaper. “Leave it to you to attract the crazy ones, Damianos,” he said mildly, as though Damen hadn’t just told him there was someone actively threatening to kill him.

“What does that say about you then?” Damen said, and then immediately mentally kicked himself for allowing Laurent to distract him.

“Every rule needs an exception.”

“You are trying to convince me that you’re the exception to the crazy rule?”

“Now who’s insulting me?”

Damen rolled his eyes, and managed to stop himself before he retorted. “Laurent, this is serious.”

Laurent took another long drink of coffee and turned the page of the paper. “I assume you’ve already alerted the police to this?”

“Yeah, as soon as I got the phone call-”

“And you’re not going to work until your stalker is in custody?”

“My boss already approved, he said he didn’t-”

“And there will be police officers watching the house twenty-four seven?”

“Yes, but-”

“Then what good would my panicking do either of us?” He looked up and held out a hand towards Damen. Damen reluctantly took it and let Laurent pull him closer. “You are doing plenty enough panicking for the pair of us.”

“I’m not panicking.”

“No, but you’re close. Now, come on. Between the two of us and all those police officer friends of yours outside, your stalker isn’t going to have much luck getting near either of us.”

Damen allowed Laurent to kiss him, privately acknowledging that Laurent was right. Damen had already taken the necessary steps to ensure that the two of them were as safe as possible. They would keep their guards up, but short of moving - a satisfaction Damen wasn’t about to give this creep - there was nothing else for them to do.

“It’ll be fine, Damen,” Laurent said softly as they pulled apart. “ _I_ will be fine. Don’t worry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	37. Laurent/Damen - Guardian Angel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent and Damen, guardian angel AU.

“Where were you?” is all Laurent says after Damen gives his explanation. 

“Wh-what?” That isn’t a response he’s used to. 

“Where. Were. You.” Laurent spits the words out between his teeth, like it’s painful to say them. “Where were you when I actually _needed_  you?”

“I’m here to-”

“I don’t care why you’re here now! I care that you weren’t here when Auguste died! I care that you weren’t here when my uncle-” He cuts himself off, shakes his head, tries again. “I care that you’re only showing up now, when I’m actually old enough to look after myself. Get out. I don’t want you. I don’t _need_  you.”

“I can’t-”

“You _can._ I’m sure of it. Leave me alone.”

Laurent turns away from him as if that settles it. Damen isn’t sure what he’s supposed to do now; a charge that doesn’t want help wasn’t covered in training. Damen isn’t sure it’s ever happened before. If it has, he’s never heard about it. 

“I wasn’t-” Damen pauses for a moment, trying to decide what he should say. “I wasn’t assigned to you yet. When all those… things happened. It isn’t as though I was just watching and not… Not helping. I wouldn’t do that.”

“Oddly enough, that doesn’t make me feel better.” Laurent’s voice is harsh, but Damen can’t really blame him. He supposes a guardian angel wouldn’t be very comforting after you’d already been hurt. What was that human expression… locking the barn after the horses were gone. 

Damen sighs and resigns himself to a long, difficult job. Because he isn’t giving up on this, on Laurent. He’ll help Laurent through this, whether he likes it or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	38. Laurent/Damen - The Regent's Execution

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: The Regent's death

Executions are rare in Akielos. They’re rare everywhere, really. Not many people enjoy cutting people’s heads off, no matter what they’ve done. Executions like this are a last ditch resort, saved for the worst of the worst.

During his training to take his father’s throne, Damen had hoped he would never have to order an execution. He had hoped to be able to solve his problems through diplomacy and through duels. Not like this.

The man walking to the chopping block is an exception Damen doubts he would have been capable of imagining back then.

Damen glances over at Laurent. He’s sprawled in the seat beside Damen in the carefully casual way Damen has grown used to. The very picture of unconcerned.

Laurent’s hands are clenched and his knuckles are white.

“Are you ready for this?” Damen asks softly, careful to keep his voice low enough for no one but Laurent to hear him. Kings are not allowed the luxury of appearing to question their decisions.

“I’ve been ready for years,” Laurent murmurs back, but the tension doesn’t leave him.

Damen doesn’t respond. Laurent wants his uncle dead, he’s sure of that much. The two of them can discuss any more complicated emotions later, when there are no prying ears around.

The former regent of Vere is led to the block, and pushed to his knees. Damen hopes he’s scared. The man is too much of a royal to ever beg for his life, but he’s still human. Damen hopes his heart is pounding in his chest.

Laurent waves his hand to approve the execution. They are still in Akielos - neither of them had wanted the risk of the man escaping in transport - but this is Laurent’s show. This is a Veretian citizen being executed for crimes against Vere. Had they not been engaged, Damen would have had no place at Laurent’s side.

The axe comes down with a _thunk_. Damen is watching, but most of his attention is on the man beside him, not the one in front. He thinks Laurent shudders, and he hopes it’s with relief.

“It’s over,” Laurent breathes. One hand unclenches, and he reaches for Damen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	39. Laurent/Damen - Hold ME

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent to Damen "Hold me"

Laurent is leaning over a table in their room, gripping the edge like he might collapse without it. 

“Laurent? Are you okay?” Damen asks, firmly closing the door behind him. If something’s wrong, the guards don’t need to know about it. 

Laurent doesn’t look at him. He’s stiff, rigid, completely still. Damen steps towards him slowly, not wanting to encroach on Laurent’s space without permission. 

“Hold me,” Laurent says without looking up. It’s almost like an order, but Damen can hear the plea, the vulnerability in his voice. 

Damen moves behind Laurent, wraps an arm around him and pulls him close so that his back is pressed into Damen’s chest. Laurent lets out a shuddering sigh, and Damen feels a fraction of the tension leave. 

He doesn’t know what’s bothering Laurent. The stress of trying to solidify this union between their countries. The barrage of comments from people who think they can’t do it, or that one of them is manipulating the other. Some reminder of the Regent. 

It doesn’t matter. They’re a partnership. Whatever it is, Damen will hold Laurent for as long as he needs to be able to deal with it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	40. Laurent/Damen - Short Shorts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent starts wearing shorter clothes because heat. Damen loves seeing Laurent like that. But so do many others.

“You are doing that _on purpose_.”

“Doing what?” Laurent asked. He stretched as he said it, making his shirt ride up, revealing a strip of bare skin. 

Damen glared at him. “You _know_  what.”

Laurent smirked and stretched again, this time putting his legs out farther in front of him, pushing his feet in the sand. His shorts - already extremely short - seemed to get shorter. “I don’t have a clue,” he said, all false innocence.

“People are _looking_  at you.” It was true. People kept pausing as they walked by, taking at least a brief moment to check Laurent out. 

“People, hmm? Are you one of them?”

“Of _course_  I’m-”

“I don’t see a problem then, do you?” Laurent was still smirking, and he settled a little more firmly into his chair. 

He was a fucking tease. 

“When we get home…” Damen muttered under his breath.

Laurent heard him and chuckled. “Oh, I’m looking forward to it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	41. Laurent/Damen - Bodyguard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Modern day AU where Laurent is the son of some rich businessman and Damen is his bodyguard.
> 
> I really like this one, and I might do something longer with it when I get the time.

“I don’t _want_  a new bodyguard,” Laurent repeated stubbornly. “I only just got used to the _last_  one.”

“Well, Jord’s not cleared to go back on duty for another two months, at least,” Auguste said, unconcerned with Laurent’s protests, “so you’re going to have to deal with it.”

Laurent crossed his arms over his chest and frowned. He was being childish, he knew, but he didn’t like having some giant of a stranger following him around everywhere he went. 

“He’s a friend of Nikandros, if that helps,” Auguste told him. 

“No.” Nik was Auguste’s bodyguard, and Laurent didn’t care for him. He wasn’t sure why, he just didn’t. His recommendation meant nothing to Laurent. 

Auguste rolled his eyes. “Just go meet the man and get it over with. And try to be nice?”

Laurent huffed, but before he could say anything else his new bodyguard walked in the door at Nik’s side. The two of them filled up the doorway; the new one was even broader and taller than Nik. 

And he was _incredibly_  attractive. 

“Fuck,” Laurent said, almost silently, without intending to. 

Auguste chuckled. “If that’s what you want, little brother,” he whispered back. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	42. Laurent/Damen - Sunburn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent getting sunburned.

“Ow. Ow. _Ow_.” 

Damen came around the corner to find Laurent wincing in front of the bathroom mirror, holding his shirt as though about to put it on, but reconsidering. 

“That bad, huh?” Damen couldn’t help smiling a little. 

Laurent scowled at him. “It hurts to put a shirt on.”

“You can keep the shirt off. I won’t mind.”

“That hurts too.”

Damen laughed. 

“Just because _you_  don’t get sunburns, Damianos…”

“Sorry, sorry. I could kiss it better?”

“That would hurt too!”

Damen laughed again, and stepped forward to kiss Laurent’s cheek. “I’ll pick you up some aloe vera lotion?”

Laurent huffed, but nodded. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	43. Laurent/Damen - Were You Crying?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Your eyes are red… Were you crying?

“Laurent?”

Laurent waved him off, head turned away. “I’m fine, Damen.”

“You know, you only ever say that when you’re not.” 

“It’s nothing, really.” 

Damen took a few steps to one side, trying to see Laurent’s face. “Your eyes are red. Were you crying?”

“No! Well, yes. Maybe. A little. But it’s nothing to worried about.”

“You were _crying_. That’s something to be worried about.”

“I’m not upset.”

“You were crying.”

“There’s more than one reason to cry, you know. I just… Got a little overwhelmed, that’s all. She’s just… What if I’m a bad father?”

“What?”

“I don’t have any idea what I’m _doing_  here, Damen. I don’t - What if she ends up like me? I couldn’t live with myself if I… If I ever hurt her.”

“You _won’t,”_ Damen said firmly. “You’re fantastic with children. We’ll be fine, I promise.” He reached out and placed his hand on Laurent’s cheek. “And, just so we’re clear, I happen to like how you turned out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	44. Laurent/Damen - Ice Dancing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent and Damen, ice dancing.

“ _You’re_  who they picked to be my partner?” 

Damen looked up to see none other than Laurent de Vere himself, looking every bit as haughty and full of himself as Damen had always imagined he would. “That would be me. Damianos-”

“I’ve heard of you. Briefly.” Laurent was significantly shorter than him, but somehow still managed to seem like he was looking down at him. “With your size, I’m amazed you don’t break the ice.”

“Oh, don’t worry. One look from you and I’m sure it would freeze right back over.”

Laurent glared at him. “If you drop me…”

“We’ll lose.” Damen got to his feet. “I don’t lose, sweetheart.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	45. Laurent/Damen - Creature with Wings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent is some kind of creature with wings that Damen finds he is able to hide the wings but not before breaking his leg and Damen seeing his wings. Damen is convinced that Laurent is angel who will help him.

“Hey, are you - Holy shit.”

Laurent wheeled around, crouched low, baring his teeth even as he felt his appearance shift, hiding his fangs, his horns, his wings. He nearly lost his balance as his leg gave out under his weight. Involuntarily, he cried out in pain.

The man who had spoken seemed to snap out of his daze and he moved to Laurent’s side. Laurent tensed. His disguise was in place now, but he didn’t know how much of his true form the man had seen.

“I’m Damen,” the man said gently. “Well, Damianos. But most people call me Damen.”

“…Laurent,” he replied cautiously.

“Are you all right?”

“I think I broke my leg,”

“Yeah, it - it looks like it. Come on, I’ll help you back to my horse and get you to a physician.”

Had he not noticed? Laurent had been sure he had noticed. Perhaps it was a ploy; a trick to get him to let his guard down so he couldn’t defend himself.

Laurent didn’t move, watching the man - Damen - closely.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Damen said softly. “I don’t - I saw your wings.” His tone was one of awe and amazement.

Laurent’s human face remained neutral, but the second set of teeth shackled inside his skull grinned. The human thought he was something beautiful then. He’d seen the wings and jumped to conclusions.

Well, he was hardly going to tell Damen he was wrong. For a moment, he wondered what he looked like to Damen. What combination of hair color and eye color and skin tone and physique appealed most to this human, who so quickly rushed to the aid of what he clearly believed to be an angel?

“I won’t tell anyone,” Damen was saying. “I promise. You can trust me.”

And Laurent believed him. The trouble was, he thought, that _Damen_ really shouldn’t be trusting _him_.

“Okay,” Laurent said, making his voice shake a little, as though he were terrified. As though there was really anything Damen could do that would hurt the likes of him. “I don’t think I can stand.”

Damen reached out for him. “I can carry you there. It’s not far.”

Laurent allowed Damen to pick him up, careful to maintain the act of helplessness. “Thank you.” His luck seemed to be changing for the better. Getting this human to help him would be easy. His uncle had believed he was dooming Laurent when he cast him out the way he had. But it seemed to Laurent that just the opposite had occurred - he’d found himself a champion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	46. Laurent/Damen - Pirate and Merman

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Was technically 'Merman Damen Sailor Laurent Or Merman Laurent Pirate Damen' but I made it Pirate Laurent and Merman Damen because I need Laurent as a pirate like I need air.

Laurent leaned over the side of the ship, half watching as the waves lapped up against the sides. He still loved the sea, the complete and total freedom it offered, but even he had to admit, sometimes it got old to see nothing but the same unending stretch of blue day after day. Still, there were much worse monotonous sights to have to spend all day staring at. 

Distantly, he heard something splash, but he didn’t respond. Fish breaching the water was nothing unusual. 

“Captain?” Jord called, sounding unusually uncertain. 

Laurent lifted his head and looked across the ship towards his first mate, who was looking between him and the water. Laurent followed his gaze, but the ocean didn’t look any differently than usual. “What is it?”

“Seeing sea monsters, Jord?” Orlant asked, laughing. 

Jord glared at him. “I saw _something_. Something I’ve never seen before.”

Laurent frowned. Jord had been at sea for a long time, wasn’t prone to drinking, and was neither paranoid nor superstitious. If he’d said he’d something strange, it was cause for concern. Laurent didn’t like surprises. 

Instinctively, he moved his hand to rest on the hilt of his sword, drumming his fingers lightly against it. “Where did you see something, Jord?”

Jord pointed and Laurent moved to stand beside him, straining his eyes to see if he could spot anything under the water. 

“What did it look- _Holy shit.”_ He’d seen it that time. Only for a moment, just a brief flash of fin and scales and skin, but it had been enough. “Was that a-”

“That was a fucking _merman_ ,” Orlant said breathless from behind them. So he’d seen it too then. At least Laurent knew he wasn’t hallucinating. 

“Should we…” Orlant started. “I don’t know, catch it, or something? I bet we could make a fortune off selling it.”

“Don’t touch it,” Laurent ordered, his tone not allowing an argument. “Tell the rest of the crew the same. And drop the anchor. I want to see if it will come closer if we stop moving.”

They nodded and moved to follow his orders. Laurent didn’t take his eyes off the spot where the creature had vanished. He had seen some exceptional things in his time, but he’d still believed that stories of mermaids were just that - stories. But that had undoubtedly been what he saw.

Of course, if he didn’t see it again he was going to start thinking that he, Jord, and Orlant had just been out in the sun for too long. 

Just as the thought came to him, the merman resurfaced. And this time, it didn’t immediately dive back down again. Laurent stared. 

It almost - _almost_ \- looked like a man who just happened to be swimming in the middle of the ocean. There were just a few small hints that there was more to it than that. The merman’s eyes, for one. Something about them was not quite human; too dark, oddly sized. He was watching Laurent as intensely as Laurent was watching him.

He dived down and resurfaced several feet closer. Laurent caught a glimpse of a red and gold tail. 

The man pulled himself a little farther out of the water, still staring at Laurent intensely. He wasn’t blinking at all. Laurent leaned over a little farther. 

“Do you speak English?” he called, unsure of how loud to be and only feeling a little bit stupid at talking to something that was half fish. 

The merman made a responding sound that Laurent thought might be a laugh, though it sounded more like the sort of noise Laurent expected dolphins to make. “Of course I do,” the merman called back, and Laurent was surprised to hear that his words didn’t even sound particularly strange, just slightly accented by an accent Laurent didn’t know. “How would we get you sailors to abandon your ships if we don’t speak your language?”

“Pirate, actually,” Laurent said, feeling unreasonably miffed at the implication that he was out here following the orders of the crown. “Are you here to lead us all to our deaths then?”

“Are you going to try and catch me in a net?”

“No. I already instructed my men that you are not to be bothered. If anyone attempts, you won’t need to lead anyone anywhere, I’ll send them over the side myself. My orders are not to be disobeyed.”

Laurent thought he saw something that might be like a smile on the merman’s face. “I’m Damen,” he said. “Is this your ship then?”

“Laurent. Yes.”

“And you’re a pirate?”

“The king has issued wanted posters for my men and I and everything.”

“In that case, you should pull up your anchor,” Damen said. “There’s a navy ship heading this way. Your lookout should spot it any minute now.”

Laurent straightened in alarm. “Jord!” he shouted across the ship. “Pull up anchor, prepare to set sail! And prepare for attack!” He turned back to Damen. “You’re warning us?”

“I came over to watch the fight. But I like you.” He looked at Laurent thoughtfully, then grinned. His teeth were inhumanly sharp. “I’ll slow the navy ship down, get you a headstart.”

“Wait, I-”

“I’ll make sure to see you again, Captain Laurent,” Damen promised. He dived back under the water and vanished from sight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	47. Laurent/Damen - That Wasn't So Nice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: "Hey that wasn't so nice" with Laurent and Damen

“Hey, that wasn’t so nice,” Damen said, following Laurent into the break room. 

Laurent poured himself a cup of coffee, clearly not caring about Damen or his opinions about the meeting they’d just gotten out of. “No,” he said agreeably, “I don’t suppose it was.”

Damen rolled his eyes. Arguing with Laurent would be a lot easier if he pretended not to know what Damen was talking about. It was harder to argue when Laurent made it obvious that he _knew_ and just didn’t _care_.

“Laurent, we are supposed to be nice to important potential clients.”

Laurent shrugged, sipping his coffee. “ _They_ weren’t very nice. Why should I be?”

“Are you sure you understand how this client thing works?”

Laurent smiled and Damen got the feeling he had missed something important. “I know _exactly_ how it works.”

“Are you _trying_ to make this company go bankrupt.”

“I’ll have you know that I am keeping this company exactly where I want it.”

Damen tilted his head, confused. “What do you mean by that?”

Laurent patted his arm. “In the interests of keeping you employed, I think I’ll be keeping that to myself for now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	48. Laurent/Damen - I'll Leave You Alone Then

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: "Alright, I'll leave you alone" for Damen and Laurent

“All right, I’ll leave you alone then,” Damen said quietly. He walked out of the bedroom, and a moment later Laurent heard the front door open and shut. Damen didn’t slam it, but Laurent winced at the sound all the same.

Without Damen there, the house seemed eerily quiet. Laurent pulled his knees up to chest and rested his chin on them. He was sitting on the bed, and it was suddenly feeling a lot bigger and a lot less comforting than it usually did. 

He felt supremely childish. Of course shouting at Damen hadn’t made him feel any better. Just made him feel like a shitty person and a disappointing boyfriend. It hadn’t been Damen’s fault, but without the option of yelling at his uncle, Laurent had chosen to take out his pent-up anger on him instead. 

He leaned back, knocking his head against the headboard, and closed his eyes. He needed to figure out how to apologize, but he couldn’t find any way to do it without sounding whiny or petulant, or else like he was trying to make it someone else’s fault. Apologizing had never been a skill of Laurent’s. 

It was going to have to become one. This was one relationship Laurent wouldn’t allow his pride to ruin.

He took a deep breath and got off the bed. Damen had left through the front door, not the garage, so he was walking around the neighborhood somewhere. Laurent figured tracking him down to apologize first could only help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	49. Laurent/Damen - Alcohol Tolerance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: In response to 'send me a sentence and I'll write the next five' with the first sentence of "Laurent tries to increase his alcohol tolerance."

Laurent was trying to increase his alcohol tolerance. _Trying_ being the operative word, as his attempt seemed to be having little effect other than to make Laurent a little bit giggly and extremely affectionate, draping himself over Damen’s shoulders and nuzzling into his neck. Not that Damen was complaining. Damen was completely sober, having taken on the responsibility of making sure Laurent didn’t do anything he’d _really_ regret in the morning, but it was more than worth it to get to watch Laurent act like this and know he would remember it perfectly in the morning. For the rest of his life, probably.

“I’m still not entirely sure what you’re trying to accomplish here,” he said, but Laurent had started a drunken rant in Makedon’s general direction and didn’t seem to hear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	50. Laurent/Damen - Don't Be Rude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: “Don’t be fucking rude.”

Damen nudged Laurent in the ribs as the man they’d been speaking with walked away. “Don’t be fucking rude!” he hissed.

“ _He_ was being fucking rude,” Laurent said sullenly. “Were you listening? He’s lucky I didn’t order him out of the office.”

The worst thing, as usual, was that Damen couldn’t honestly say he disagreed. The man had been a jackass, and Damen had spent the whole meeting with his hands clenched into fists under the desk, nails biting into his skin to keep him from losing his temper. Laurent had not exhibited nearly the same amount of self control, and even if his insults had been too subtle for the man to immediately pick up on, he had at least gathered that Laurent didn’t want to talk to him.

“That’s not the point, Laurent,” Damen replied, frustrated. “I would like to actually _keep_ my job. Maybe that doesn’t matter to you, but-”

“I won’t let them fire you,” Laurent said simply, as though it were something he could actually promise, as though a word from him, down on the bottom of the company ladder, would somehow convince anyone that Damen should be kept on even after losing them an important client. As though Laurent wouldn’t be right behind him if he went.

“Last I checked, you don’t have a say in that.” Damen crossed his arms over his chest. “Or did you _want_ Erasmus to get fired last month?”

“You have to pick your battles.” Laurent looked in the direction the man they’d been meeting with had gone. “I’m picking this one. I’ll make sure you aren’t part of the collateral damage.”

There was a determined set to Laurent’s jaw, an icy glaze over his blue eyes. He always looked beautiful, but right then he looked beautiful in the way a snake did as it coiled itself to strike. Beautiful, mesmerizing, hypnotic, and deadly. Damen could all but see the gears in his brain clicking through options.

Somehow, despite the fact that Laurent’s promise should, by all logic, have been an empty one, Damen found himself believing it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	51. Laurent/Damen - Would You Marry Me?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent and Damen, “Will you marry me?” and “Please talk to me.” 
> 
> Some inspiration taken from the song [As I Am by Heather Dale.](https://youtu.be/TF5oqpYvxyc)

Laurent’s face was pensive, not even looking up when Damen entered their rooms.

“Is everything all right?” Damen asked cautiously as he moved towards where Laurent was sitting at a desk, staring vacantly at some maps that Damen doubted he was really looking at.

Try as he might, Damen couldn’t think of anything that might be upsetting Laurent right now. The Regent had been executed over a week ago. Damen was almost completely recovered from the knife wound during his fight with Kastor. Their marriage to unite - and eventually merge - their two kingdoms had been announced and, while not everyone was pleased with the decision, after everything that had occurred with the Regent and Kastor no one wanted to cause any trouble.

A flicker of expression crossed Laurent’s face, so Damen knew he had been heard, but Laurent still didn’t speak or look at him.

Slowly, so as not to startle him, Damen reached out and brushed his fingers across the back of Laurent’s hand. At the touch, Laurent seemed to snap out of his daze and he looked up. Their eyes met, and Damen’s suspicion that something severe was bothering him was confirmed.

“Please talk to me,” he said softly.

Laurent pulled his gaze away and looked down at his hands. He sighed, and the weight of it made Damen’s stomach twist.

“Will you marry me?” Laurent asked.

Damen’s brow furrowed with confusion. “I _am_ marrying you.”

Laurent smiled, but it was brittle. “Let me rephrase. _Would_ you marry me? If we weren’t…” He trailed off and waved a hand around him.

“Weren’t what?”

“Kings. If we didn’t need an alliance between Akielos and Vere. If I were a nobody. If your father was still alive. If-”

“Yes,” Damen said firmly, cutting him off. “Yes, I would marry you.” He had made that decision when he’d ran to Laurent’s trial, rather than gathering his army to take his kingdom back. But he doesn’t know how to express that to Laurent, how to communicate all the nights he’d wondered ‘ _a kingdom, or this?_ ’ and how glad he’d been to be able to have both, because after having _this_ the kingdom didn’t sound nearly as important as it once had.

Instead, he reached out and took Laurent’s hand. Laurent laced their fingers together and lifted their joined hands to kiss the back of Damen’s, his eyes closed.

“I love you,” Damen said quietly, not sure why he was lowering his voice.

“I love you too.” Laurent tilted his head back for a kiss on the lips. “And I would marry you, no matter what walks of life we came from.”

Damen cupped his hand around the back of Laurent’s head and pulled him close. “As would I.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	52. Laurent/Damen - I Don't Love You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent saying “I don’t love you.”

“Tell me you don’t want me here. Tell me you want me to go.” Damen was doing everything he could to keep his voice even, as though he couldn’t care less what Laurent said next. Every muscle in his body was tense with the effort needed to keep himself from shaking.

Laurent’s face was impassive, uncaring. “I don’t want you here. I want you to go.” They stared at each other for what felt like hours, blue eyes locked on brown. “I don’t love you,” Laurent said, and something inside Damen shattered.

He kept his jaw locked firmly. Kept his gaze flat. He jerked his chin up. “Well,” he said, a bite in his voice, “that’s that then.” He spun on his heel and made for the door. He didn’t look back to see if Laurent was watching him go, or if he’d lost any of his composure. He didn’t look around at any of their furniture that held so many memories, or at all the evidence in the house that said two people in love lived there. He didn’t think he could take it if he looked.

“I’ll come back for my stuff while you’re at work,” he said, and it was a miracle his voice didn’t break over the words.

Laurent made a huffing sound behind him, not deigning to respond.

Damen stepped out the front door and yanked it shut behind him, hard enough to make the porchlight rattle. He hoped the loud noise had made Laurent wince.

His motorcycle was in the driveway. He started it up, and allowed the roar of the engine to drown out his thoughts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	53. Laurent/Damen - You Look Really Tired

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Damen/Laurent “You look really tired.”

“You look awful,” Laurent said bluntly.

Damen looked at up to see Laurent closing the hospital room door behind him before coming to sit next to Damen.

“Thanks,” Damen replied flatly, letting his head fall back on the pillows. “And whose fault is that?”

He had expected Laurent to flash him one of his unapologetic, shit-eating grins, but instead the other man hung his head and stared down at his shoes.

Despite the uncomfortable pull in his muscles, Damen reached out and playfully smacked Laurent’s shoudler. “Lighten up, I was just teasing you. This wasn’t your fault.”

Laurent at least attempted to smile at that, which was better than the kicked puppy look he’d been sporting a moment ago. “You _do_ look really tired though.”

“Of course I do,” Damen said agreeably, and yawned for emphasis. “It’s hard work, saving your life. I expect a pay raise.”

“I’ll talk to my father.” Laurent fidgeted in his seat for a moment. “The doctors say that you’ll be all right?” It came out as more of a question than it should have been.

Damen nodded, recognizing the vulnerability in Laurent’s voice. “A few days in here, some rest at home, and a few months of physical therapy and I’ll be back to kicking Nik’s ass during training. And it’s good timing. Jord’s clear to go back to your protection detail this week, right?”

Laurent nodded. “Which is good.”

Damen frowned. He’d thought he and Laurent were friends now, he couldn’t imagine why Laurent sounded so relieved to no longer have Damen as his bodyguard.

“Because,” Laurent continued, “I’m pretty sure there’s a ‘conflict of personal interest’ policy somewhere in your contract, that says if you’re in charge of my protection detail, we can’t do this.” And he leaned over and kissed Damen.

Damen was fairly certain that he’d effectively just been fired, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	54. Laurent/Damen - Is That My Shirt?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Lamen and “Is that my shirt?” (bonus points if it's Laurent saying it).

“Is - Is that my shirt?” Lauren wasn’t sure why he bothered to ask; it wasn’t as though it could have belonged to anyone else.

It was certainly too small for Damen. Laurent realized he was staring, open mouthed, at the way it was stretched over Damen’s chest and shoulder muscles, the way it looked like it might be about to rip at the seams.

It was a good thing it wasn’t one of Laurent’s nicer shirts; when (if) Damen gave it back, it was going to be badly stretched.

“Hmm?” Damen responded. He looked down at his chest as though he’d somehow forgotten that he was wearing a shirt that was several sizes too small. “Oh. Yeah.”

Laurent kept staring, waiting for an explanation, but none came.

Damen in too small of shirts was a surprisingly delightful sight. It clung to him even more tightly than his normal shirts did when wet. Laurent didn’t understand how it could _possibly_ be comfortable, as it seemed to him that Damen shouldn’t have been able to even breathe in it without popping the seams.

“Laurent? Were you listening?” Damen’s voice snapped him out of a daze he hadn’t even realized he’d gone into and he shook his head to clear it. Damen smirked at him. “Distracted?”

“Yes, actually, I was. Do you have any idea how hard it is to concentrate on anything when I can almost see your individual muscles through your shirt?”

Damen made a mockingly thoughtful sound and stepped closer to Laurent. Laurent’s stomach flipped in pleasant anticipation; the look in Damen’s eyes almost always ended with them in the bedroom.

“I imagine,” Damen said slowly, putting a hand on Laurent’s knee and sliding it up his thigh, “that it is about as distracting as having to watch _you_ ,” he put a hand on Laurent’s back and pulled him to his feet and close enough to feel Damen’s breath on his face, “walk around in these short shorts of yours.”

Laurent grinned. So _that_ was the game they were playing. He smiled coyly up at Damen. “Whatever are we going to do with the two of us?”

Damen returned the grin and pulled Laurent towards the bedroom to show him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	55. Laurent/Damen + Kids - Will You Help Me?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: “Will you help me?” kid fic, Laurent and Damen.

“Laurent?” Damen called from the other side of the house. “Will you help me?”

Laurent made his way down the hall and into his daughter’s bedroom, where he was met by the sight of his husband sitting in front of a half-assembled dollhouse, looking perplexed. Charlie was sitting on her windowsill, watching Damen with a frown, her legs crossed, elbows on her knees, and her chin on her fists. Theo was sitting next to Damen holding the instructions, his tongue stuck out a little in concentration.

“Not going well, I take it?” Laurent asked, trying not to laugh.

Charlie looked up at him and said, in a solemn voice, “Papa is really bad at this, Dad.”

Damen shot her a look. “Traitor.”

“I told you to ask him for help ten minutes ago. You said you could do it.”

Damen looked at Laurent plaintively. “It’s a lot harder than it looks like it should be. And there are a lot of tiny pieces. And the instructions don’t make sense.”

Laurent looked at Theo, who was still reading said instructions. Or attempting to, at least. Seeing as how most of his current reading level consisted of Dr. Seuss, Laurent doubted he was making much progress.

Laurent went to sit next to him. “Hey, Theo, can I take a try at that?”

Theo handed him the instructions. He had been trying to read the spanish section of them.

“Do you want to help us, Charlie?” Laurent asked as he searched for the pieces he needed.

“It’s my birthday,” she told him matter-of-factly, repeating the same sentiment she’d used to excuse herself from her chores all day, to give herself permission to tie a ribbon into Laurent’s hair, and to stick matching bows from her presents on Damen and Theo’s heads. Theo’s had fallen off, but Damen’s was still there. It was lime green.

All the same, Charlie jumped down from where she had been sitting, picked a piece of the dollhouse up off the floor, and handed it to Laurent. “I think that one goes here,” she said, tapping a part of the house.

Laurent glanced over the directions to check that she was right, and Damen gave her a mock glare, visibly trying not to smile. “Sure, you’ll help _him_.”

Charlie beamed.

Damen rolled his eyes and nudged Laurent’s shoulder. “She’s your daughter all right.”

Laurent gave Charlie a high-five.

“I want to help!” Theo insisted, tugging on Laurent’s sleeve.

“Scavenger hunt,” Laurent said, flipping the instructions so Theo could see the pictures. “Can you find this one?”

Theo nodded seriously and began picking up and carefully examining every piece of the dollhouse, regardless of how closely they resembled the piece from the picture.

Thirty-five minutes later, they had a completed dollhouse in front of them, Charlie was insisting that they take pictures of it for her to show her friends at school, Theo had fallen asleep in the middle of the floor, and Damen had informed Laurent that he was never again buying anything with the words ‘some assembly required’ printed on the box. Laurent was smiling at them, leaning against his daughter’s bed, his husband’s arm around his shoulders, feeling content.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	56. Laurent/Damen - Mesmerizing, Your Beauty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damen saying 'mesmerizing, your beauty' to Laurent.

Damen ran a hand through Laurent’s hair, a soft smile on his face and his eyes a little glassy. “Mesmerizing,” he said, his voice full of awe.

“What is?” Laurent asked, smiling back at him, partly in fondness and partly out of amusement. Damen was drunk and had been waxing poetic about Laurent for the last twenty minutes. 

“Mesmerizing,” he repeated. “Your beauty. Mesmerizing.”

Laurent was impressed by Damen’s ability to keep saying the word ‘mesmerizing’ through the alcohol. He allowed Damen to kiss him once, then pushed him away, gently but firmly, before he could get into it. 

“I mean it,” Damen said, sounding deeply concerned that Laurent might think he was lying. “You are just so…” He waved his hand, apparently searching for the word. 

“Mesmerizing?” Laurent offered. “I rather like that one.”

Damen beamed at him. 

“Do you plan to go to sleep anytime soon?” Laurent could hardly believe Damen had made it this long; they’d returned to their rooms half an hour ago. He had expected Damen to pass out as soon as he hit the bed, but instead he’d decided that he desperately needed to spend the evening informing Laurent of each and every positive feature he had, and then reminding him of them.

Which wasn’t a _bad_ thing, except for that Laurent was tired and Damen was adamantly refusing to shut up, and Laurent knew arguing with someone this drunk was rarely productive. 

“I don’t want to,” Damen said, a little petulantly. 

Laurent rolled his eyes fondly. “Well, I _do_. Do you think you could pretend? Just for a few minutes?”

Damen huffed, but threw himself melodramatically against the pillows and closed his eyes. Laurent watched him until his breathing evened out, indicating he had fallen asleep, before curling up beside him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	57. Laurent/Damen - You Don't Want Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: "You don't want me" - from Laurent to Damen.

Laurent hadn’t been expecting the kiss, that was the problem. If he’d expected, even for a moment, that that was where the night might be headed he would have planned for it. He would have stopped Damen before he ever got the chance to even entertain the thought. 

When Damen had cupped the back of his head, slowly, silently asking permission, Laurent had been surprised enough to allow it. If he’d been expecting it, he would have been thinking clearly enough to know to refuse. 

When Damen had kissed him - a kiss that had been everything Laurent had allowed himself to imagine it might be and so much more besides - Laurent had been surprised enough to not stop himself from kissing back. If he’d been better prepared, he would have stood there, unresponsive, until Damen realized his feelings weren’t reciprocated and backed off. 

But he _hadn’t_ been prepared, and so he’d kissed back until his brain had caught up with the rest of him and he’d jerked away from Damen so violently that Damen’s first response had been to ask Laurent if he was hurt. 

And now they were standing under a streetlight at eleven o’clock at night, breathing hard, their breaths leaving vapor trails in the winter air, while Damen tried to understand what had just happened and Laurent tried to explain it. 

“You don’t - You don’t want me,” Laurent said at last, unable to think of any other way to say it. Perhaps if he’d been better prepared, he would have known how to have this conversation without showing so much vulnerability. But he hadn’t been prepared. He’d never considered that Damen might think, even for a moment, that he wanted Laurent, of all people.

Damen frowned, his forehead wrinkled with confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“You could have anyone,” Laurent said, and it was true. Anyone would be happy to have Damen. He had the personality, the looks, everything anyone had ever imagined their perfect partner to have. “You don’t want me.”

Damen was still frowning. “I do, actually,” he said. “That’s why I kissed you.”

Laurent shook his head. “You don’t. Maybe you think you do. I’m nice to look at, I know that. But you don’t want everything that comes along with that. You don’t want _me_.”

Damen was staring at him, and once or twice opened his mouth like he was going to say something, then closed it again as though the words had failed to form. 

Laurent backed away from him. He didn’t want to hear what Damen had to say. It would be more platitudes, more assurances, more arguments. They would serve no purpose but to make it hurt Laurent all the more when Damen eventually, inevitably, realized that Laurent was right. 

“Goodnight, Damen,” he said, firmly, in the tone he used at the office when he wasn’t giving people even the opportunity to argue with him. “Thank you for dinner.” Then he walked away, and didn’t look back at Damen, who was still standing in the pool of light from the streetlamp, trying to find the words to make Laurent stay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	58. Laurent/Damen - Can You Shut Up?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Lamen "Can you shut up?!"

“Auguste, your brother is never allowed to drink again.”

“What is he doing?”

“He’s - Laurent, for fuck’s sake, get _off_ \- just look at him!”

“Damen, this is a _phone call_. How much have _you_ had to drink?”

“How dare you - I have _not-”_

“Damen, you’re slurring your words.”

“ _No_. I - Laurent, can you shut up?! I’m trying to complain to your brother about you! … Yes, I know. Yeah. Auguste, I love your brother, you know that?”

“You - you what?”

“More than I love you. I mean, I love you. I do. Your… man, you’re fucking _awesome_. But I _really_ love your brother. He’s very pretty.”

“Damen, go to bed.”

“I don’t _want_ to go to bed, I want to tell you that your brother is - Laurent, knock it off! No, actually - Auguste, I have to go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts on[ my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	59. Laurent/Damen - You Can Trust Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Damen/Laurent and "You can trust me."

The kitchen counter was wet where the water glass had been sitting. Laurent traced his finger through the water, dragging it across the counter’s smooth surface. 

“You can trust me,” Damen said softly, as though afraid he’d spook Laurent if he spoke too loudly. To be fair, Laurent wasn’t sure he was wrong. 

Laurent almost laughed at him. He said it as though no one had ever made Laurent that promise before, as though it was a promise that couldn’t be broken. But Laurent knew better. That was one of the easiest promises in the world to break, even if you didn’t mean to. 

He said nothing, and kept staring at the counter. 

Damen’s hand came into his line of vision and settled over his own, stilling it. Laurent looked up, slowly. 

“You can trust me,” Damen said, maintaining eye contact with him as he said it. “I’ll prove that to you. However long it takes.” He squeezed Laurent’s hand. 

It was probably foolish optimism. A desperate part of him that was tired of being alone. A moment of incredible stupid. But Laurent found himself squeezing back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	60. No Ships - Nicaise Kills the Regent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Nicaise poisons the Regent

The funeral bells are tolling. There’s something odd about the sound, Laurent thinks. The same bells rang for Auguste, and for his father. Distantly, Laurent thinks he might be angry at the fact that his uncle is getting the same respect, but he can’t really feel the anger through the numbing shock. 

It doesn’t seem possible. Not impossible in the same way Auguste’s death had been. That had been denial and grief talking. No, receiving the news of his uncle’s death feels more like being told the Devil just died in his sleep. Impossible in that it doesn’t seem as though his uncle was human enough to die. 

Oh, Laurent knew his uncle was just a human. But knowing something like that and _knowing_ something like that are two completely different things. 

Nicaise is outside Laurent’s rooms, leaning against the wall with his arms folded over his chest. Laurent looks at him, and he looks back; cool, unaffected, almost-innocent stare perfectly in place. 

Laurent looks away from Nicaise long enough to verify that they are alone in the corridor. 

“Was this you?”

Nicaise says nothing and no flicker of emotion passes over his face. Which is an answer in and of itself, Laurent knows. He wonders what finally pushed Nicaise to it. He wonders if even Nicaise knows. 

He wishes he’d been brave enough to do it, and somehow, bizarrely, is relieved that someone else did it for him. For years he has wanted to kill his uncle more than he’s wanted anything else - save for impossible things, like the ability to bring his brother back from the dead. For years, he has hated the idea of killing his uncle. Laurent thinks it’s the part of himself that can’t stop thinking of his uncle as _Uncle_ that feels that. 

“They’ll never be able to prove anything, I assume?” Laurent says.

“The physician said it looks like he had a heart attack,” Nicaise replies, his face still stationary. 

Of course it does. Nicaise is too smart to do something this bold, this dangerous, and not cover his tracks properly. All the same, Laurent makes a mental note to keep an ear out for any suspicions. Two sets of ears, two sets of eyes, are always better than one. 

“What now?” Nicaise asks after a long silence. It might be Laurent’s imagination, projecting his own worry onto the boy in front of him, but he thinks Nicaise sounds just a tiny bit vulnerable. 

What now. Laurent doesn’t know. The goal has been to beat his uncle for so long. Not even beat him, really. Just to make him work for his victory. Laurent never planned for what to do after his victory, because he never believed he would _have_ a victory. And now here it is. Laurent will become Vere’s new king sometime in the next few days. 

And Laurent doesn’t know what to do next. 

But he doesn’t tell Nicaise that. Instead, he shrugs one shoulder in the most indifferent gesture he can manage and says, “Well, I suppose you need a new position here.” Nicaise tilts his head up, just slightly, and Laurent thinks he looks relieved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	61. No Ships - Nicaise Frustrates Damen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nicaise lives and makes life very frustrating for Damen

“He’s doing this on purpose.”

Laurent made a noncommittal noise that was definitely not sympathizing. 

Damen frowned at him. “You could at least _pretend_ you aren’t encouraging him.”

“I haven’t said a word to him about it,” Laurent said, in that tone he used when he was pretending to be more innocent than he truly was. 

Nicaise slid into the room, the same picture of youthful innocence that he had always been. Damen narrowed his eyes. He didn’t fall for the act anymore, which seemed to only encourage Nicaise. Damen frequently felt as though he and Nicaise were playing a game that Damen hadn’t been told the rules of. Or the goal.

Laurent seemed to know though. He and Nicaise were cut from the same cloth, different primarily because of the stretch of years between them.  

Laurent let out a sigh that didn’t sound _quite_ genuine to Damen’s ears. “Well,” he said, “I have to go meet with some of my uncle’s former council members.”

“But we-” Damen began. 

“Nicaise, help Damen with this until I get back?” Laurent asked, gesturing to what he’d been looking at a moment ago. Nicaise smiled in response, and something in the expression reminded Damen of Nicaise’s face directly prior to stabbing Damen with a fork.

Damen was pretty sure Laurent was smirking as he left the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	62. Laurent/Damen - I'm Not Wearing That

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Damen/Laurent"I'm not wearing that."

“I’m not wearing that,” Damen said firmly, pointing at the hat Laurent was holding. 

Laurent’s posture was casual, but his smile was devious. “It’s traditional. I thought we agreed to incorporate as many Veretian and Akielon traditions as possible, as a show of partnership and tolerance.”

“If that monstrosity is Veretian tradition, I vote that we gather up all of that tradition and burn it. Publicly.”

“That’s rude, Damianos. What will the people say?”

“If they have any sense, they’ll be grateful.”

“I distinctly recall you telling me that you didn’t think Veretians had any sense.”

“The fact that that hat exists proves I was right.”

“Well, I think this is going to be one of those times you have to swallow that Akielon pride of yours and keep your promises.”

Laurent was making this up. Damen _knew_ Laurent was making this up. He just wanted to be able to spend the evening laughing at Damen wearing a hideous, feathered hat. 

And the worst part was that Damen was going to agree. Damen gritted his teeth, took the hat from a gleeful Laurent, and tried not to imagine the teasing he was going to have to endure from Nikandros.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)
> 
> The hat Damen is refusing to wear is the infamous red and feathered hat from episode 1x04 of BBCs Merlin


	63. Laurent/Damen - Laurent Makes Damen Jealous

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Damen getting a little jealous about people eying Laurent when he wears short clothes.

“Could you _please_ stop bending over like that when you’re wearing a chiton?” Damen asked. Asked. Not begged. He was definitely not begging. 

Laurent’s blue eyes were all innocence. Damen didn’t buy it for a second. “I don’t know what you mean,” Laurent said.

“You _do_ , and you’re doing it on purpose. I - Why does your chiton have to be so damn _short_?”

“It’s no shorter than yours.”

Damen wanted to say that was a lie, but it did seem unlikely that anyone would have made Laurent an unusually short one. Damen wasn’t sure why it always _felt_ so short. Maybe because for so long he’d been unable to imagine Laurent in anything but fully laced Veretian clothing from head to toe. 

“People are _watching_ you when you do that,” Damen said, frustrated for reasons he couldn’t quite put his finger on. 

“Of course people are watching me. I’m a _king_.”

“They aren’t watching _me_ like that.”

Laurent grinned wickedly. “Wear a shorter chiton.” He sat down and crossed his legs, causing the material to ride up and expose the majority of one thigh. 

After a moment, Damen realized that Laurent was still talking, but that he’d tuned him out. He forced himself to look up and meet Laurent’s eyes. 

Yeah. Laurent knew _exactly_ what he was doing. Damen dragged him to the bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	64. Laurent/Damen - Sick Laurent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Damen fussing over a sick Laurent

“I am not sick,” Laurent insisted, his words muffled a little. He was lying on his side, half his face buried in his pillow, trying to glare at Damen with eyes that refused to focus. 

“Of course you aren’t,” Damen said agreeably, gently pushing Laurent’s sweaty blond hair out of his face. “That perfectly explains why you can’t get out bed without falling over.”

“I can too.” Laurent sounded like a petulant child, and Damen had to turn his head away so Laurent wouldn’t think he was being laughed at. 

“Paschal said you just need to sleep, and to make sure to drink enough water. And eat fruit, if you think you can without throwing up.”

“I won’t throw up. I’m not sick.”

Damen decided not to remind Laurent that he’d actually already thrown up three times that day, and dry heaved a few more. Instead, he leaned over and pressed a kiss against Laurent’s hair. It was disgusting and dripping with sweat. Laurent’s fever was impressive, and had turned his whole face bright red. 

Damen felt sorry for him, but couldn’t help being amused by the sight of Laurent of Vere laying pathetically in bed and trying to pretend that he wasn’t. 

“Let me know if you need anything,” Damen told him. “I’ll be right here.”

Laurent huffed at him, with rather less force than was usual. “You could at least kiss me _properly_.”

“And catch whatever it is you have? Not a chance, my love.”

“I’m _not sick_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	65. Laurent/Damen - I Need You Though

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Lamen : "I need you, though."

Anonymous

“You can’t keep doing this, Damianos,” Laurent said, doing his best to keep his voice level and seemingly unconcerned. “Charging off into battle like you think you’re some storybook hero. You aren’t just a common soldier, you know.”

Damen either didn’t care or didn’t realize that he was being chastised. “I’m their king. And I’m very good on a battlefield. The men need me out there. The kingdom needs me.”

‘I _need you, though_ ’, Laurent thought, though he couldn’t make himself say it out loud. It sounded too clingy, too desperate, too weak, too manipulative, too everything he didn’t want to be.

Damen was a good soldier. Laurent knew that as well as anyone, and better than most. But he was still a man. Still susceptible to injury, as evidenced by the scars that lingered on his back and chest. And any man who bled could die.

And if anything were to happen to Damen, Laurent wasn’t sure he could piece himself back together again. Not while running two kingdoms that were still uncertain about being allies, let alone being unified back into one. Losing Auguste had been terrible enough. Losing Damen…

It was not a line of thought that Laurent enjoyed considering, but he seemed unable to entertain any other whenever Damen went charging off to some border skirmish or to put down some group of bandits. Laurent could have accompanied them, of course, but for all his skill in a fight he had never truly developed a fondness for it. He was more than happy to deal with the more diplomatic and crafty side of ruling.

He just wished Damen’s specialty didn’t involve such a high chance of one day simply not returning. Laurent was fine during the day, busy and surrounded by people. It was at night, when their bed felt rather too large for him to be lying in it alone, and Laurent found himself as pestered by insomnia as ever, that his imagination and memory began to run wild together. Sometimes he managed to fall asleep during the midst of that, and dream of either Damen or Auguste riding out, and one or both or some odd mix of the two being returned to him, mangled and bloody.

“Laurent?” Damen asked, sounding concerned.

With a start, Laurent realized he must have zoned out, letting his worries distract him from the conversation he was supposed to be having. He shook himself, regained his composure, but it was too late to convince Damen that all was well.

“Don’t try to lie to me,” Damen said, and he didn’t sound irritated, the way Laurent might have expected him to. He was just saying it; aware that Laurent was about to deny that anything was wrong, and Damen wanted to skip over that part of the conversation entirely.

Laurent allowed that. Sometimes it was strange, and almost aggravating, how well Damen knew him. Mostly, however, it was nice to know that there was one person in the world who had seen him at his worst, understood, and continued to love him all the same.

Laurent sighed and, with considerable effort, dropped his defenses. “I worry,” he said simply.

“You don’t have to.”

“Auguste told me that once.”

He hadn’t said it with any bite or malice, hadn’t meant it as a weapon, but it had the effect of shutting Damen up all the same.

“Oh,” he said after a long silence had passed between them.

“I didn’t mean…” Laurent struggled for words. “I’m just trying to say - It’s difficult for me to reassure myself. Because I am well aware that all it would take to… All it would take is a moment of not being at your best. It doesn’t matter why you aren’t at your best. Death… Death has little concern for being fair.”

Damen seemed to have no words for that. Laurent hadn’t expected he would; that was why he had waited so long to say anything. No sense in having Damen worry about him while he was here worrying about him. It wouldn’t be good for either of them.

Damen was staring unhappily at the floor. Laurent reached out and, gently but firmly, tilted his chin until they were looking one another in the eye.

“This is why I didn’t want to tell you,” he said, as gently as he could, trying to keep as much tension out of his voice as possible. “There isn’t anything you can do, Damen.” Save for not going out into the field anymore, but Laurent wouldn’t ask that of him. Sometimes, when he was exceptionally lonely, or worried, or Damen was late coming back and hadn’t sent word, he imagined he would. But he knew he wouldn’t. Couldn’t.

“I only worry, is all.“

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	66. Laurent/Damen - You Don't Want Me cont.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 to [Chapter 57](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7121161/chapters/16452424)

Laurent’s rejection had come on a Friday, so Damen had spent his entire weekend replaying the incident in his mind, and trying to determine where he’d gone wrong and, more importantly, how to fix it.

 _You don’t want me,_ Laurent had said. There had been a note of misery in his voice, but mostly it had just been certainty. It hadn’t been a small moment of insecurity talking, or fishing for compliments, or anything like that. Laurent had fully believed what he’d been saying, and he had said it with the air of someone who had believed it for a long time. 

If Laurent had said _I don’t want you,_ Damen would have resigned himself to the rejection and left it alone. 

_You don’t want me_. 

The words kept echoing in Damen’s head. It had been a rejection, but not the sort Damen had prepared himself for. Laurent hadn’t rejected him; he’d rejected _himself_. 

Damen wasn’t willing to walk away from that. He _did_ want Laurent. Laurent had no business telling him otherwise. 

By Sunday night, Damen had resolved himself to either change Laurent’s mind, or make Laurent reject him outright. 

Monday morning, Damen woke up an hour and a half earlier than he usually did and stationed himself in the coffee shop he knew Laurent went to every morning before work. If he confronted Laurent at work, Laurent would find some work to do, brush him off, make sure they didn’t get any privacy. He wouldn’t be expecting Damen here. 

He didn’t know what time Laurent usually came in, only what time he usually got to work. At first, he thought he’d simply gotten to the shop much too early. Then he began to worry he’d gotten there too late and Laurent had some other aspect to his morning routine that Damen didn’t know about. Then he began to worry that Laurent was avoiding him and not coming in for coffee because he wasn’t going to work. 

After forty minutes of that, Laurent finally walked in the door, and Damen was so relieved to see him that for a moment he forgot why he was there. 

Laurent didn’t notice him. He walked to the counter with his head down, scuffing his feet. It was strikingly out of character, and Damen wondered if this was what Laurent was always like before his first cup of coffee for the day or if he was as upset by the events of Friday night as Damen was. Damen wasn’t sure which to hope for. If Laurent was upset about Friday it meant there was that much more of a chance of Damen winning him over, but the idea of ever feeling happy that Laurent was in pain made Damen feel ill. 

He let Laurent buy his coffee. Laurent didn’t leave with it, he sat down at one of the tables and pulled out his phone. 

Damen took a deep breath and sat down next to him. 

Laurent looked up, momentarily confused, then taken aback. “What are you doing here?”

“I want you.” Damen had decided, after drafting up a few dozen possible speeches, that straightforward and right to the point was the best way to deal with this. “I don’t know why you think I don’t, but I do.”

Laurent shook his head. “Don’t do this, Damen,” he said, and it sounded like a plea. 

The sound struck a painful chord in Damen’s chest, but he wasn’t giving this up. “If you don’t want me, that’s fine,” he said, making a point of maintaining eye contact with Laurent as he said it. “I’ve been rejected before. I can deal with rejection. If _you_ don’t want _me_ , just say so, and I’ll go. We can go back to just being co-workers, and I’ll never talk to you unless I really have to. But you don’t get to speak for what I want.”

Laurent ripped his gaze away and stared at his coffee cup. “ _Don’t_.”

“If you don’t want me, say so.”

“I don’t…” Laurent’s voice wavered. Even if he’d finished, it wouldn’t have been a convincing statement. He didn’t finish. He shut his mouth and stared morosely down at the table. “You don’t want me,” he said, in the smallest voice Damen had ever heard. “Nobody does. And if you convince me you’re telling the truth…” He broke off with a shuddering sigh. He clenched and unclenched his fist a few times.

“If you convince me you’re telling the truth,” he started again, his voice a little stronger now, “it’s going to be that much worse when I turn out to be right.”

Damen frowned. “You aren’t going to be.”

Laurent shook his head again, and Damen knew he was losing him. Repeating his argument wasn’t going to get him anywhere. 

“What have I done to make you think that?” he asked. “At what point have I done something that makes you think I would just abandon you when - When what? What do you think you are to me?”

Laurent glared at him. Damen did his best not to appear nervous; if he wasn’t careful he’d piss Laurent off enough to make him storm out and then he really would have lost chance for good. “You tell me. A pretty face? A challenge? Dare? Conquest? You have a lot of options, Damen.”

Damen was torn between being pissed at Laurent for thinking so little of him, and being pissed at whoever had first put it into Laurent’s head that he was unwantable. 

He shoved the anger down for the moment. He could deal with that later. “How about a friend?”

Laurent squinted at him. “What?”

“I considered you a friend. _Consider_ you a friend, actually. Even when you’re being an ass. A friend who I’ve developed romantic feelings for. Which is why I asked you to dinner. It’s why I kissed you. You act as though I’m a perfect stranger. Laurent, if I only wanted you for your looks I would have asked you out on our first day working together. You’re _beautiful_. But that isn’t what this is about. I _like_ you. And after working with you for several months, I think I’ve gotten a pretty good idea of what I’m signing up for.”

Laurent seemed stunned by the outburst, which Damen hoped was a good sign. At least he’d gotten more of a reaction than carefully calculated indifference. 

“I can’t go through that again,” Laurent said at last. Damen felt like he’d been waiting for Laurent’s response for hours. “I _can’t -_ I don’t think I could take it. Being told that I never meant anything after all. I _can’t do it again_ , Damen.”

Damen reached out his hand, and, slowly, _slowly_ , Laurent moved his until Damen was close enough to take it. 

“I can’t promise that this is forever,” Damen said honestly. He would have liked to. He would have liked to promise Laurent that, whatever had happened to him in the past, it was over now and he was going to have Damen. He wanted to commit to this. But he couldn’t, and he knew Laurent wouldn’t appreciate it if he pretended. “I can’t know that. But I _can_ promise that I’ll never regret it. That I’ll never tell you that you never meant anything. Because even if you someday you _stop_ meaning something to me - which I hope never happens, but I can’t promise it won’t - you mean something to me now. And that _matters_.”

Laurent didn’t look at him, but he seemed to be thinking. 

“I - I will think about it,” Laurent said at last, gently pulling his hand away and standing up. “I’ll - I’ll call you?”

Damen nodded. “Take your time.”

Laurent left. Damen prayed he’d gotten through to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	67. No Ships - Laurent and Nikandros Are Stranded

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Nikandros and Laurent are stranded together somewhere and end up bonding

“Well, that was impressive,” Laurent said dryly, watching Nikandros. The man was standing with his arms crossed over his chest, visibly fuming, as though he could somehow manifest their horses with the power of rage.

“Do you have anything helpful to say?”

“Do you?”

Nikandros snarled at no one in particular. “I don’t suppose you have any idea where we are?”

“We’re in Akielos. If anyone should know the terrain, it’s you.”

“You never bothered to learn the area while you considered invading us?”

“I’ve never considered invading Akielos in any seriousness, I’ve always had more pressing concerns.”

Somehow, Nikandros seemed to take offense at the idea that Laurent’s top priority might have ever been anything that didn’t involve his country. Laurent rolled his eyes. 

“Is snapping at me part of your grand plan to get us back to civilization? Or just a pastime as you hope the horses will miraculously reappear for us?”

Nikandros scowled at him. “I don’t know how Damen puts up with you.”

Laurent shrugged. “A true mystery.” He was goading Nikandros, he knew, but he couldn’t seem to find it in himself to actually care. If he hadn’t been so important to Damen, Laurent doubted he’d even be this civil.

“We should start walking,” Nikandros said, trying - and failing - to keep the irritation out of his voice. 

“Walking where?” While Laurent agreed that just sitting here wouldn’t do them much good, he couldn’t imagine that aimlessly wandering around the wilderness of Akielos would be much better. 

Nikandros pointed. “That’s south. If we keep walking that way, we’re certain to reach… something.” 

Laurent was not overly impressed with the logic, but he followed Nikandros anyway. It wasn’t as though he had any better ideas to offer up. Not that Nikandros was likely to have listened if he had.

They walked in silence for an hour before Laurent spoke. “I feel that your dislike of me makes you an odd choice for my protection detail.”

Nikandros didn’t look at him as he replied. “My king has ordered me to protect you with my life, if necessary. I will not let him down.”

Laurent heard the unspoken ‘again’ at the end of the sentence. He didn’t comment on it. He knew Damen didn’t hold any blame against Nikandros for Kastor’s usurpation, and he also knew Nikandros wouldn’t believe him if he said so. 

“That is one thing we have in common,” Laurent said nonchalantly.

Nikandros scoffed. “What is?”

“We would both do anything for him.”

Nikandros raised an eyebrow, but didn’t comment, and Laurent could tell Nikandros was reappraising him as they walked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	68. Laurent/Damen - Underwater Kiss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt : Lamen underwater kiss

Laurent could swim well, obviously. It would be ridiculous if he couldn’t, being a sailor and all. That would be an incredibly humiliating way to die; drowning when he lived on the water. 

But this - This wasn’t the sort of swimming he was used to. He was used to swimming for a _reason_ ; to get back to his ship, usually. He didn’t swim just for the hell of it. There were all manners of creatures in the water, and he saw no reason to tempt them to eat him. 

But Damen, as it turned out, could be incredibly persuasive when he wanted to be. So now Laurent was a few feet below the surface of the water, holding his breath. 

The other man - did Damen count as a man? - flitted past in the water. Laurent saw the flash of the scales on his tail more than anything else. Damen was _fast_. He slowed in front of Laurent and grinned, sharp teeth showing. 

Damen swam closer to Laurent, until they were nose to nose. Laurent was distantly aware that it was getting close to time for him to go up for air, but Damen seemed to be holding Laurent in place with no power beyond his own magnetism. Perhaps that was how merpeople drowned sailors. 

Or perhaps Laurent was just head over heels in love, and making poor life choices as a result. 

Damen put his hands on Laurent’s arms, and Laurent thought he was trying to say that Laurent didn’t need to move so much to keep his position; Damen would keep him up. Laurent’s heart sped up at the contact, and had to fight the urge to increase his breathing to match. It would be a major mood killer if he started drowning right now.

Just when Laurent thought he was going to have to break the moment and head for the surface anyway, Damen leaned forward and kissed him. 

Laurent thought he might have let out the last of the breath he was holding in surprise, but he was too preoccupied to be sure. Laurent wrapped his arms around Damen, tangled his fingers in his hair, and barely noticed when Damen moved a moment later. He hardly reacted at all when their heads breached the surface; merely deepening the kiss as oxygen flooded back into his lungs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	69. Laurent/Damen - Short Skirt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Lamen + "The skirt is short on purpose."

Damen was trying not to stare. Really. He was. 

Staring was rude, and inappropriate, and Laurent was saying something, and Damen was pretty sure it might be important, but he was having great difficulty ripping his eyes away from Laurent’s legs in his cheerleading skirt. 

Or even blinking. Really, he would have settled for blinking at this point.

“ _Damianos_ ,” Laurent said crossly, in the tone people use when they’ve been trying to get your attention for a few minutes already. 

Using every bit of willpower he possessed, Damen wrenched his gaze back up to look Laurent in the eye. “Yeah. Right. What you said. I agree.”

“You weren’t even _listening_.” 

“I’m sure you were right anyway.”

Laurent seemed unimpressed. Laurent always seemed unimpressed. “Football players,” he said, with obvious disgust. “Honestly. I don’t know why we even bother cheering at your games.”

“I _do_ think you’re right,” Damen said. He still couldn’t work out what Laurent had been saying, but he’d managed to remember where the conversation had started and he could make a guess. “It’s bullshit that they’re trying to cut the funding for the cheer team.”

Laurent raised an eyebrow at that, and Damen felt an odd surge of victory for managing to say something Laurent wasn’t expecting. “Well, at least you acknowledge _that_ much.”

“I could try talking to someone,” Damen offered, tripping over his words a little. He’d been trying to find an excuse to talk to Laurent for _months_ , and he really didn’t want to screw up the first time it had happened. 

He hadn’t even started this conversation, he and Laurent had just ran into each other by the bleachers, crossing paths as they gathered their gear. Laurent had taken out his irritation over budget cuts on Damen. 

And then Damen had been sidetracked by an _incredibly_ short skirt. He wasn’t even sure why Laurent was _wearing_ a skirt. He wasn’t the only man on the cheer team who did so, but there were also several men on the team who _didn’t_. Maybe he just liked it. Maybe he knew how good his legs and his ass looked in it. 

“Talk to someone,” Laurent repeated, sounding skeptical. 

“Yeah. It couldn’t hurt, at least. And my father is a pretty big donor to the school. I might have better luck than you.”

Laurent scoffed a little, but nodded. “I suppose it’s better than doing nothing at all. See if you can get them to throw in money for some new uniforms while you’re at it.”

“Is that why it’s so short?” Damen asked, trying to sound less turned on than he was. “Budget cuts?”

Laurent rolled his eyes so hard Damen felt like it should have hurt. “The skirt is short on _purpose_ , Damianos. Specifically, for the purpose of making people like you start drooling over them.”

And then he walked away, and Damen was pretty sure he intentionally shook his skirt up a little as he walked. Damen had to sit down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	70. Laurent/Damen - Werewolf and Vampire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Vampire Laurent Werewolf Damen

Laurent somehow managed to still look elegant while wrinkling his nose. “You smell like wet dog.”

Damen scowled. He was well aware that he was dripping from the rain, leaving puddles all over the front hallway of Laurent’s house. He resisted the urge to throw Laurent’s dog joke back at him by shaking vigorously. “If this is supposed to be a diplomatic meeting, insulting me isn’t a very good way to start.”

“Not taking an umbrella with you in this weather wasn’t a good way to start either.”

Again, Damen fought the urge to say something nasty. “Shall we get started?”

Laurent looked at him coolly, and Damen wasn’t sure if he was disappointed that Damen hadn’t risen to the bait, or impressed. He picked up a cup of coffee. Damen could smell that it had blood in it in place of coffee creamer. “This way,” Laurent said, guiding Damen down the hall. 

One of Laurent’s back rooms smelled of werewolves, vampires, and the scent of electricity lingered in the air in the way that meant wizards sometimes were in there too. It must have been where he had all of his important meetings. 

“The fighting is getting worse,” Laurent said as they both took a seat. “We aren’t far from being able to call this another war.”

“That’s why I’m here,” Damen replied. “We both lost enough people six years ago. I don’t want the body count to get any higher.”

Laurent sipped at his coffee, the very picture of nonchalance. “And what sort of solution do you suggest?”

“I’m the leader of the werewolves now,” Damen told him unnecessarily. Laurent was well aware of the political scene in the supernatural world. “And you’re the most respected vampire in the city. I’m sure, between the two of us, that we can come up with something.” 

Laurent smirked and set down his coffee cup. “I suppose we had better start brainstorming then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	71. Laurent/Damen/Nikandros - Insane

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: polyamorous Nikandros Damen and Laurent

“Your boyfriend is insane,” Nik said flopping down on the bed next to Damen.

“ _Our_ boyfriend,” Damen corrected smugly. He was smiling. 

Nik rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, all right, _our_ boyfriend. He’s still insane.”

“Nik, we’ve known him for two years. You’ve been watching me date him for a year and a half. Don’t pretend you didn’t know what you were getting into.”

Nikandros shoved Damen’s shoulder. Damen laughed. 

“Are either of you capable of being quiet?” Laurent asked. He had appeared in the doorway, fully dressed, a cup of coffee in hand. “It’s six in the morning. The neighbors will complain.”

Nik seemed unconcerned with the neighbors. “If we have to be up at this ungodly hour, they can deal with it.”

“You _don’t_ have to be up,” Laurent pointed out. “You can go back to bed.”

“He’s worried he’ll miss a chance to stare at that pretty face of yours,” Damen told him. 

Nik hit him in the face with a pillow. Laurent rolled his eyes and shook his head fondly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	72. No Ships - De-aged Laurent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: De aged prompt where Nikandros has to spend a day with a day with a young Laurent like 6 year old Laurent and learns a lot more about him in the process

Nikandros was used to strange things happening around Damen - he was some sort of magnet for magical disasters - but this was a whole new level. 

Also, he was pretty sure that babysitting was not in his job description, even if the child in question was technically a magically de-aged version of one of the kings.

Laurent was sitting in the chair next to Nikandros, his feet dangling several inches off the the ground, watching him expectantly. “Where’s Auguste?” he asked. 

Nikandros still wasn’t sure if it was better or worse that Laurent’s mind had turned back into his six year old one along with his body. On the one hand, while King Laurent in Child Laurent’s body would have been hilarious, it also probably would have been incredibly mortifying for everyone involved. 

On the other hand, six year old Laurent kept asking questions Nikandros didn’t want to answer. 

“He left you with us,” Nikandros said evasively. “We have to figure out how to undo the spell you’re under.” He didn’t really want to lie, he hated lying, but he couldn’t see a point in telling the child in front of him that his brother was dead, when that death both hadn’t happened yet and had happened years ago. 

“Auguste trusts you?” Laurent asked. 

“Yes. Of course. Why else would he leave you with me?” Auguste probably would not have trusted Nikandros as far as he could throw him, and the feeling would have been mutual.

Laurent nodded, as though he’d just made an important decision. It was a ridiculous expression on a six year old’s face. “Then I trust you.”

“That’s… good.” And it was, he supposed. This could get uncomfortable if Laurent decided Nikandros was a bad guy and tried to run away or something. Right now, Nikandros’ entire job description was to keep the king-turned-child somewhere safe and out of the public eye. 

“Auguste says Akielons are barbarians,” Laurent went on, with all the blunt honesty of a child who hadn’t learned to play politics yet. He had to say the word ‘barbarians’ slowly, syllable by syllable, so he could pronounce it correctly. “But he must not think that about you.”

Objectively, Nikandros supposed he’d been aware that Laurent couldn’t possibly have been the cold, calculating snake he was now back when he was a child, but it was still jarring to speak to hear the younger version of him speak so honestly. Some part of him felt like Veretian children must come out of the womb able to speak in circles. “I guess so,” Nikandros agreed. He hoped Damen would figure out how to reverse this soon; he wasn’t good with children at the best of times, and he had no idea what to do with this one.

“Is Auguste going to be back soon?” Laurent asked. “He never leaves me alone for very long, and if he has to he usually leaves me letters so I can practice reading, and it’s like he’s talking to me, even though he’s far away.”

Nikandros swallowed. Laurent was looking up at him with large blue eyes, all innocence, no trace of the ice prince Nikandros was used to talking to. Not hint at all as to the kind of person he would turn into. 

Had it just been Vere that had turned Laurent into what he was? Or had it been the loss of Auguste? Had Laurent stayed like this, trusting, young, a little shy, right up until his brother had been taken from him?

“I’m sure Auguste would be here right now, if he could,” Nikandros said, and his stomach twisted with the certainty that that was the most honest thing he’d said to Laurent all day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	73. Laurent/Damen - Cop and Thief

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Officer Damen and professional thief or conman Laurent

Damen whirled around the corner, gun drawn. 

Lauren de Vere was sprawled out across a couch in the apartment’s living room, apparently unconcerned. “Officer. I expected you here ten minutes ago. Did I make it too hard for you?”

“This isn’t a game.” Damen’s gun was aimed at Laurent, but Laurent barely seemed to notice. 

“Of course it is. It’s not my fault you aren’t having fun with it.”

“Get up. You’re under arrest.”

Laurent’s blue eyes slowly tracked up to meet Damen’s and he smiled. Damen cursed the twist in his stomach at the sight. “Am I now?”

“Yes.” Neither of them moved.

Laurent sighed. “Put the gun down, Damen. We both know you aren’t going to shoot me. Your fondness for me aside, I’m unarmed, and you would never shoot someone for any reason other than self defense.”

He was right. Grateful that Nikandros was at back at the police station and there was no chance of him walking in and seeing this, Damen slowly put the gun back in it’s holster. “What do you want?”

“Odd thing for a cop to ask a criminal.”

“You lured me here.”

“It isn’t as though you didn’t know what I was doing. And you wanted to see me, just as much as I wanted to see you.”

“What makes you think that?”

“You didn’t bring your partner along.”

He wasn’t wrong. Laurent seldom was. “Okay. I wanted to see you. God only knows why.”

Laurent stood up in one beautiful, cat-like motion. Damen tried to ignore the way his heart skipped as he watched it. “I think we _both_ know why, Officer.” One of his hands was on Damen’s arm. 

“You’re a criminal.”

“And you are an officer of the law. Should make dinner interesting, don’t you think?” He led Damen out of the apartment, and Damen, against all better judgment, followed him willingly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	74. Laurent/Damen + Kids - You Did What?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Lamen, "You did /what/?!"

“I’m sorry - you did _what_?!” Laurent had done an impressive job of keeping his voice level at the beginning of the sentence, but it cracked over the final word. 

Charlie looked a little disappointed in herself for having been caught, but overall unashamed. “The parking lot was empty. It’s not like I would have hurt anybody.”

“Except for _yourself_ when you slammed the car into a telephone pole!”

“There _weren’t_ any telephone poles, I was in the middle of a _parking lot_.”

“Whose car were you using?” Damen broke in. “Because it wasn’t ours.”

Charlie shrugged. “A friend’s. It’s a piece of crap and getting sold for scrap tomorrow, he told me to go nuts.”

“What friend?”

“I’m not getting him in trouble.”

“Oh, don’t worry. You are in plenty enough trouble for the pair of you. You’re lucky you didn’t get arrested.”

Charlie shrugged again. 

“Where did you even learn to _drive_?” Laurent asked. “You’re barely fifteen, you shouldn’t be anywhere near one yet.”

“Uncle Auguste taught me, the last time we visited him.”

“Uncle Aug-” Laurent spun to face Damen. “Ground her. I have to go call my brother.” He stormed off to find his phone, pausing for only a moment to point up the stairs at Theo, who was leaning over the railing, watching his sister get yelled at. “Don’t you _ever_ become a teenager.”

Damen looked back at Charlie, who continued to look unimpressed. She was her father’s daughter, through and through, and it was terrifying. 

“So, you won’t rat out your friend, but you’ll rat out your uncle?”

“Dad won’t kill Uncle Auguste.” She sighed. “How grounded am I?”

“Well, if you’re on your best behavior, you might be allowed behind the wheel of a car again sometime before you’re too ancient to drive one. And you might be allowed out of the house in time to graduate from college.”

Charlie groaned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	75. Laurent/Damen - Scars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent touching Damen's scars

Laurent slowly traced one scarred line down Damen’s back with his index finger. It was strange, at times, knowing that he was the one responsible for putting them there. It felt like something that had happened to someone else. A different Damen taking the punishment. A different Laurent doling it out.

It had been, in a way. Neither of them were the people they’d been when they met. If some trick of magic allowed Laurent to meet the man he’d been then, he doubted his younger self would recognize him. 

Damen moved under his touch, and Laurent stopped moving. Damen rolled to look at him. “What are you doing?” His voice was thick with sleep. 

Laurent shrugged. His hand had moved when Damen had, so it was still resting on his back. “Thinking. Remembering.”

Damen tugged on Laurent’s arm until he could take his hand, then settled onto his back. “That isn’t a very pleasant thing to remember.”

“Most of my memories aren’t pleasant. I’m used to it.”

Damen frowned, the way he always did when Laurent reminded him that his childhood had been shrouded with misery. 

Laurent shook his head. “Don’t think on it, Damianos. I’m fine. I wasn’t thinking about how things were then. I was thinking of how they’ve changed.”

At some point, Damen had wrapped an arm around Laurent’s waist and pulled him close. Laurent couldn’t remember moving. “You think too much. Come here.”

Laurent rolled his eyes fondly, even as he settled between Damen’s arms. “I have to think too much, if I’m going to be doing it for both of us.”

“Keep talking like that and I’ll make you sleep on the floor.”

“Oh, whatever shall I do? If only I were the king and had any bed in the palace available to me.”

Damen rolled over, pinning Laurent to the bed. “Laurent, I love you. But if you don’t stop talking and let me go back to sleep, I’ll smother you with a pillow.”

Laurent smiled, and Damen collapsed into the pillows. He was asleep again in minutes. 

Laurent laid awake a while longer, staring at the ceiling, lightly running his fingers up and down Damen’s arm, careful to do it softly enough that he didn’t wake the other man. 

Two very different men indeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	76. No Ships - Jord and Nikandros Bonding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Anything with Nikandros and Jord

Laurent and Damen left the room, and Jord shot Nikandros a sympathetic glance. “You’ll get used to him, I promise.”

Nikandros scoffed, unbelieving. “Sure.”

“No, really. He isn’t as terrible as he likes people to think he is.”

“Could have fooled me.”

“Well, that’s the point.”

Nikandros looked exasperated. “ _Why_ are you so loyal to him?”

“He’s my friend,” Jord said simply. “As well as my prince. My king. Might as well ask why _you_ are so loyal to Damen.”

Nikandros raised an eyebrow. “You call him Damen?” In all the years they had been friends, Nikandros had only known of Damen’s closest friends calling him by the nickname.

“That was the name he was using when he first came to Vere.” Nikandros didn’t miss the way Jord carefully avoided mention of _how_ Damen had first come to Vere. “Seems strange to change it now. And we did fight together. That forges a bond. As I’m sure you’re well aware.”

Jord was less Veretian than most of the Veretians, but it still struck Nikandros as madness, how much of a friendship Damen seemed to have struck up with the other country. 

“Why are you so opposed to him?” Jord asked. “Aside from being his usual ‘ice prince’ self, he hasn’t done anything offensive.”

Nikandros thought Laurent’s _existence_ was offensive, but it didn’t seem wise to bring that up. “I’m suspicious of Veretians,” he said simply. 

To his surprise, Jord laughed. “As you probably should be. But don’t worry. Laurent’s antics might cause you to make an idiot of yourself at a formal dinner, but he isn’t planning on starting up another war.”

“Does he do that often?”

“Make people look like idiots? It’s his favorite game.”

Nikandros sighed and rubbed his temples. “The two of them are going to give me gray hair.”

Jord nodded. “You and me both, my friend. Alcohol helps. Want me to buy you a drink?”

Nikandros very much wanted a drink. “Several.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	77. Laurent/Damen - One Sided Damen/Auguste

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Lamen + one-sided Auguste/Damen - AU where the war doesn't happen and Auguste falls in love with Damen, but doesn't act on his feelings once he sees how Laurent feels about Damen

Auguste’s hands were clasped behind his back, digging the thumb of one into the palm of the other. His smile was firmly in place, years and years of Veretian politics keeping his face looking as happy as everyone expected it to be. 

And he _was_ happy. Laurent was practically glowing beside him, trying and failing to keep from letting everyone in the world know just how ecstatic he was about getting to marry Damen. That was worth everything to Auguste. 

Even the bittersweet wrench in his gut at the fact that his little brother was getting the man _he_ wanted. 

There would be other people for Auguste. Political matches for the sake of Vere. People who could play the game of Veretian politics with the same grace Auguste did. Maybe, if he was very lucky, even someone else he could fall in love with the way he had Damen, years ago. 

One look at Laurent said there had never been anyone else for him, and there never would be. Auguste would bite his tongue clean off before he said anything that could jeopardize that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	78. No Ships - Nikandros Finds Out About the Regent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Nikandros finding out what the Regent did to Laurent

Even when Kastor had demanded that he bend his knee, Nikandros had not felt so torn in his loyalties. At least then, he had _known_ his loyalty was to Damen, even if he could not act on that loyalty. 

Now, his loyalty to Damen was coming up against his loyalty to Damen. 

“Nikandros, it has been _months_ ,” Damen said, and Nikandros wasn’t sure if his voice was more pleading or angry. “Can you still not trust my judgment on this?”

Nikandros had visions of Kastor and Jokaste, of Damen waving off Nikandros’ concerns about them as well. “I’m afraid not, my king.”

Damen made a noise of frustration, and Nikandros expected him to start yelling.

“Damen.” It was Laurent, appearing in the doorway. Nikandros couldn’t guess how long he’d been there. Laurent’s voice was not loud, but it was firm, and it silenced Damen at once. “Let me talk to Nikandros.”

Damen looked between his husband and his friend for a moment, then walked out, nodding to Laurent as he passed. Nikandros thought it looked like he said something to him, but he was too far to catch it. 

“You still see me as the ice prince who put those scars on Damianos’ back,” Laurent stated. It was not a question, an accusation, or a complaint. 

“Yes,” Nikandros replied in the same flat tone. “You Veretians are all snakes. And you have done nothing to convince me you are less of one.”

Laurent’s gaze didn’t flicker, unconcerned. “I _am_ a snake. Damen has informed me of that often enough. He needs one at his side, or the other ones will swallow him whole. Look at Kastor.”

“You don’t even come to the defense of your countrymen?”

Laurent shrugged. “We are a country of snakes. For better or worse, it is how our political system has formed. _You_ are a country of wolves. Veretians often marvel at how you have not torn one another to shreds yet. Of course, some of you are more lions than wolves. And some Veretians are more venomous than others.”

“You strike me as the most venomous of the lot.”

“Perhaps I am, now that my uncle is dead.”

“You think you’re so different? You strike me as the same snake, painted different colors.”

Laurent’s head snapped up, and his blue eyes were dark with fury. Nikandros barely kept himself from taking a step back. It was startling, not merely because of the anger, but because the sight of it solidified what Nikandros had often suspected - this was the first genuine emotion he’d ever been able to read on Laurent’s face. 

“I am _nothing_ like my uncle,” Laurent spat. 

The words of an argument rose in Nikandros’ throat, and then died on his tongue. That was not an easy tone to argue with.

Laurent dropped his gaze and shook his head. One of his hands clenched into a fist, then loosened again as he shook it out. “Have you heard of my uncles _tastes_?”

“Rumors.”

“He and his Council kept it well covered up. A part of me wanted to make it public, add it to his list of crimes, but it was too late for it to hurt him. And they deserved their privacy, at least. That much, I could give them.”

“The rumors are true then.”

“They’re true.”

“Then you knew. You knew, and you _let_ -” Something in Laurent’s face stopped his words. 

“It is not,” Laurent said slowly and softly, after a silence had welled up between them, “as though my uncle _told_ me about what he liked in bed. Actions speak so much louder than words, after all.”

Laurent held Nikandros’ gaze, ensuring that they both knew what Laurent was implying, and that Laurent _meant_ to imply it. Nikandros wanted to be sick. 

“I am not like my uncle. I am a snake, but not that kind of snake. And I _will_ stand beside Damen, in anything. I care very little about what you think of me, Nikandros. But Damen cares. So, while I doubt the two of us can ever be friends, I thought more of a show of trust between us might be called for.” He politely inclined his head, and left the room. 

Nikandros sat down. Did Damen know? Of course he did. Laurent wouldn’t have revealed something like that to Nikandros if he hadn’t even revealed it to Damen. 

It explained a few things. Nikandros imagined he would be quick to bite and slow to trust as well, if he’d had to grow up with so deadly a snake in _his_ home. 

But it wasn’t the horrificness of the story that struck most at Nikandros. It was the fury at the idea of being like his uncle. The protection of the children who had come after. The guilt that had been in Laurent’s face at the moment of mentioning them. The rawness in his voice as he’d spoken of staying at Damen’s side. 

Nikandros realized that Laurent had not asked him to keep this to himself. The show of trust he had mentioned. That what he had told Nikandros would stay between them, despite the lack of love between them, despite the lack of a promise of secrecy. 

There was, it seemed, more to Laurent of Vere than he had believed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	79. Laurent/Damen - Sick Damen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Something hurt/comforty with sick!Damen

“I brought you some soup.” Laurent set the bowl down on the end table beside the bed. “Are you feeling any better?”

Damen attempted to pry his face off the pillow and failed. He groaned, rather than try to figure out how words were supposed to work. 

“You look dreadful.” Laurent pushed Damen’s sweaty hair back from his face, then made a face of disgust. “You need a shower.”

Damen groaned again. “Tired.”

“I know.” Laurent sat on the edge of the bed. “Come on, I’ll help you sit up so you can at least eat something.” 

Helping Damen up was no easy task, but they managed it. Laurent propped him up on some pillows so he could lean comfortably back against the headboard. Laurent handed him the bowl of soup, then immediately took it again when it became clear that Damen didn’t really have the upper body strength to be holding it right now. 

“If anyone asks,” Laurent said, “I did _not_ feed you by hand.”

“If anyone asks, I was never this sick.”

“We’ll take this entire flu season to our graves.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	80. No Ships - Kid Laurent and Damen on a Playground

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Small Damen and small Laurent meeting and becoming friends

“You’re blocking the slide.” Damen crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the smaller, blond boy sitting at the top of the playground.

The other boy looked behind him, then back at Damen, and nodded. “Yeah.”

“ _Move_.”

“I don’t want to.”

“You _have_ to. _I_ want to go down.”

“I _don’t want to_.”

Damen huffed. “I’ll tell my dad, and he’ll get you in trouble.”

“Tell your dad. I don’t care.”

“I _will_.” Damen turned to climb back down the ladder that led to the slide, but stopped. He’d expected the other boy to scramble to tell him not to tell after all, but he still didn’t move from where he was sitting in front of the slide. He looked like he was rooted to the spot. Damen turned back around to face him. “Why are you sitting up here? You’re not even playing.”

“I want to.”

“No you don’t. That’s _boring_.”

The boy glared at him, and Damen scowled back. He was good at scowling. His older brother had taught him how.

After a minute of that, the boy looked down. His face was turning red. “I’m stuck.”

“You’re stuck?”

“Yeah. I only climbed up here because my uncle told me to, and then he left, and I don’t like heights. And my brother’s meeting me here after school but that’s not for _ages_ because he has sports so I’m stuck.”

Well, _that_ Damen could work with. He offered the boy a hand. “I’m Damen. Come on, I’ll help you get down.”

The boy glared. “I’m Laurent, and I don’t need help.”

“Yes, you do. You just said you’re stuck at the top of the slide.”

“I’ll be fine once my brother gets here.”

“Well, I’m going to help you get down _now._ ”

Laurent still didn’t take his hand, so Damen reached down and grabbed it and tugged. Laurent stumbled to his feet, eyes wide and his face pale.

“There. Now you’re standing. Do you want to go back down the ladder, or down the slide?”

Laurent had a death grip on Damen’s arm with both hands, and it kind of hurt. “I want to sit back down.”

“No. Ladder or slide?”

Laurent glanced nervously between his two options. “I don’t like the ladder.”

“Then the slide. That’s easy. You just have to go down it.”

“I don’t _want_ to. I don’t like tunnel slides.”

“Then why did you come up here?”

“Because my uncle told me to!”

“Then your uncle is a jerk. Come on.”

Laurent didn’t want to move, but he was smaller than Damen and didn’t want to let go of Damen’s arm, so it wasn’t that hard for Damen to get him to go the short distance to the slide entrance.

Laurent shook his head. “I don’t want to.”

“You have to. And then you’ll be on the ground and you won’t be stuck anymore.”

“I _don’t want to_.”

“Too bad. Come on, I can go down with you if you want.”

Laurent looked at him like he was crazy. “Only one person can go down the slide at a time. It says on the rule board.” He pointed to the board in question, releasing his grip on Damen for a second to do so, then immediately grabbing back on.

“I won’t tell if you won’t.” That’s what Kastor said every time _he_ broke the rules.

Laurent looked around nervously, like the playground police might jump out at them at any moment for even thinking about going down the slide at the same time.

“O-okay…”

Damen had to push Laurent to make him sit down, and had to keep pushing him to get him down the slide, as he kept scuffing his feet and slowing them down. They finally emerged back out into the daylight, and Laurent leapt off the bottom of the slide and darted away, like it might drag him back in.

“Thanks,” he said when Damen followed him.

Damen nodded. “Your uncle is a _jerk_. We should go play on the swings. Swings are better.” He pulled Laurent along, but this time Laurent followed him willingly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	81. Laurent/Damen - Laurent's Afraid of Spiders

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent is terrified of spiders

Damen hadn’t even shut the door behind him before Laurent was talking. 

“For the record, I’m not _afraid_ of it.” 

Damen looked up to see his boyfriend, sitting on the back of the couch, staring intently at a spot high up on the wall. “Okay… Afraid of what, exactly?”

“That.” He pointed. “And I’m not. Afraid.”

Damen followed Laurent’s finger to where it was pointing at a spider sitting on the wall, just barely below the line where the ceiling began. 

“All right. You aren’t afraid of spiders. Good for you.”

“Kill it.”

“What?”

Laurent wouldn’t look away from the spider long enough to look at Damen, but he managed to convey his glare all the same. “Kill. It.”

Realization dawned and Damen smirked. “Why? I thought you weren’t afraid of it?”

“I’m _not_. I just… Don’t want it in here. That’s all.”

“It’s not even doing anything. It’s just sitting there. Being a spider. It’s innocent.”

“ _Damen_.” 

“What?”

“Quit being _clever,_ and kill the damn thing already.”

“Maybe I don’t want to kill it. Maybe I’m against spider violence, Laurent. Did you ever think about that?”

“Then stick it in an envelope and mail it fucking Switzerland, I don’t care. Just get rid of it.”

“But if you’re not scared of spiders…”

“Damen!”

Damen snorted. Laurent still had his eyes glued on the bug, making sure it didn’t get away. “Admit you’re scared of it, and I’ll take care of it.”

Laurent crossed his arms over his chest, gaze unwavering.

He held his resolve for just under a minute, when the spider started inching along the wall. 

“Fine. I am terrified of spiders. So, Damianos, if you _ever_ want to be allowed to kiss me again-”

Damen laughed and kissed Laurent’s cheek. “There, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”

“You can tease me all you want after it’s dead.”

“Oh, trust me, I will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	82. Laurent/Damen - Hurt Feelings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Anything where Damen's feelings get hurt accidentally (may not have ended up accidental)

“Wouldn’t your father be proud.”

The words cut deep, just as they were meant to. The air swept from Damen’s lungs. The bottom dropped out of his stomach. Tendrils of ice slid through his veins.

Laurent didn’t see his eyes widen, or his skin paling, or the way he pulled back like he’d been struck. Laurent was already walking away from him, having successfully delivered the final blow in their argument.

Damen staggered his way to a bench and sat down. It felt more like his legs gave out on him, and he happened to be lucky enough to have something to catch him before the floor did.

The argument had escalated past what any of their arguments had since before their engagement. They had been dealing with some trade agreement, Damen had made a complaint, Laurent had made a quip, things had grown, and grown, and then Damen had made a nasty comment about Vere, and Laurent..

Laurent had responded with the one response he knew would cut Damen off at the knees and end the fight.

It had been a multi-barbed sentence. The implication that Theomedes would be disappointed in the kind of king Damen had become. That the one thing Theomedes would be proud of would be that comment, which Damen was already regretting having said. The insult to the man himself, and the reminder that Theomedes had not been as good of a man as Damen always liked to remember him as.

Laurent really knew how to make his words into weapons when he wanted.

Some time later - a few minutes? a few hours? - the door opened again, and Laurent stepped in, his blond head bowed.

“That was uncalled for,” he said. “What I said, I mean. Not what you did.”

Damen let the silence grow uncomfortable before replying. “What I said was uncalled for too.” Although what Laurent had said had been nastier, more personal. Damen didn’t want to launch them into another fight.

“What I said was worse. I know you loved your father. I shouldn’t have…” He sighed and sat down beside Damen on the bench. “I’m sorry.”

Damen nodded, looking at his hands rather than his fiance. “I know. It’s not okay. But I’ll forgive you. Just… not tonight. Tonight, I think we should sleep in separate chambers.”

Laurent nodded. “I’ll inform the servants then.” He moved to the doorway. For a moment, Damen considered reaching out and pulling him back, disregarding his own words. But the pain was still fresh. His words still felt too charged.

Tomorrow. He’d forgive Laurent tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	83. Laurent/Damen - The First Five Times Damen Said ‘I Love You,’ and the First Time Laurent Said It First

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: A 5 + 1 story with Laurent and Damen

_I_

The first time ‘I love you’ passes between them, it’s Damen who says it. They’re out at dinner (date number five, Laurent’s been counting) and they’re finishing their dessert and the waitress has walked off to run Damen’s debit card, and Damen looks up, eyes soft, and says “I love you.”

Laurent nearly drops his fork, stares at his plate, and feels his face growing red and hot. He struggles to find his own words, knows he should say Damen’s back to him, but they’re sticking in his throat, catching on his tongue.

“You don’t have to say anything,” Damen says, his voice kind, seemingly unbothered by Laurent’s less than ideal response. “It’s okay. I just wanted to say it. I don’t want you to say it until you mean it.”

Laurent can’t say it yet, but he _can_ reach across the table and take Damen’s hand in his, so he does.

_II_

The second time it’s said, they’re lying spread out on the couch, their legs tangled together. Damen says it into Laurent’s temple, and punctuates it with a kiss. Laurent doesn’t panic this time. He and Damen had talked after the last time. Laurent knows he doesn’t have to respond.

He says nothing, but he turns his head and kisses Damen back, under his jaw. Damen hums softly, satisfied and understanding.

_III_

The third time, Damen is lying in bed, face flushed and hair sweaty. He has a fever of a hundred and one, and Laurent’s been bringing him soup and juice for two days.

“I love you,” he says, and it’s barely serious, said in gratitude for the cold glass of orange juice Laurent just pressed into his hand.

Laurent chuckles, kisses Damen’s forehead, and finds the words. “I love you too.” His tone is light, and that seems to be what it takes to get the words off his tongue. “Get some sleep.”

Damen doesn’t mention what Laurent has just said, but he’s smiling into his pillow as he falls asleep, so it’s clear that he heard.

Laurent sits beside him for a few minutes, watching him, content.

_IV_

It’s not until the fourth time that Laurent even realizes he’s counting. Laurent’s just coming down from a panic attack, clutching Damen’s sleeve, apologizing.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what triggered that, I’m sorry, _I’m sorry_ -”

And then Damen hooks his fingers under Laurent’s jaw, angles Laurent’s head so they’re looking into each other’s eyes, and says, intently, “I love you. You have _nothing_ to be sorry for. Just breathe, Laurent. Just breathe.”

And Laurent does, focusing on that and nothing else, letting ‘I love you,’ all four iterations of it, echo in his ears.

“I love you too,” he says quietly, when it finally passes. Thank you.”

_V_

Laurent debates putting number five on the list, as it isn’t exactly to him, but it means just as much as the first four, maybe more, so he keeps it.

They’re visiting Auguste, and he’s taken them for dinner, and he slaps Damen’s shoulder and says “How can I be sure you’re good enough for my brother, huh?”

Damen shrugs, smiling, but Laurent can see that he’s nervous. “I don’t know how to convince you. But I do love him. More than anything.”

Laurent is slowly getting used to Damen saying that, is even coming to enjoy it, but he goes red at hearing it said in front of Auguste. He ducks his head, like it’s the first time he’s heard it, but this time he’s smiling so hard that his cheeks ache.

Auguste looks at him, then at Damen again. “Well, that’s about all I can ask for, isn’t it?”

He pulls Laurent aside later, asks if he loves Damen back. Laurent nods, blushing. “I really do.”

_I_

They’re in their apartment. The one they rented together. They’ve only just moved in and there are boxes everywhere. It’s late, but they can’t go to bed because they can’t find the box with the bedsheets.

Damen has found a stack of books, and is looking at the box they were in, confused. “Why does this one have ‘fragile’ written on it?”

Laurent smiles, fondly. “I love you.”

Damen snaps his head up and the books fall from his hand.

Laurent keeps smiling. “I really, _really_ love you.”

Damen’s face breaks into a grin and he’s across the room in two steps, kissing Laurent like the whole world might come to a crashing halt if he doesn’t. And Laurent’s kissing back, grinning almost too hard to manage it, certain, more than he’s ever been about anything in his life, that he loves this man with everything he has.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	84. Laurent/Damen - Broken Heirloom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent accidentally breaks a family heirloom and Damen is upset about it

Damen ran his fingers over the cracks in the pendant, as though his touch could meld the pieces back together. “It was my mother’s.”

Laurent stood several feet away, not looking at him. “I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t see it.”

Damen said nothing. He was trying not to be angry. It wasn’t as though Laurent had meant to shatter the only thing Damen had that was a symbol of his mother. The blame lay just as much with whoever had left it lying out where it could be so easily crushed.

But Damen didn’t know who that was, and he did know that it was Laurent who had done the crushing.

“Can it be fixed?” Laurent asked.

“Probably not.” Definitely not. Even if the pieces were soldered back into place, the cracks would remain. Damen would know. It would no longer be the clear, untouched relic of his mother. That was the part of it Damen had always treasured, and no amount of repairs would bring that part back.

“Damianos, I-”

“I don’t want to talk to you right now. I’d like for you to leave me alone.” Damen could hear the ice in his voice.

“Damen-”

“If I talk to you right now, I’m going to say something I will regret. Leave.”

Laurent hovered a moment longer.

“Now, Laurent! Get out!”

Laurent went. Damen returned to staring at the broken pendant on his desk. Dimly, he was aware that he would want to apologize for snapping later. He couldn’t bring himself to care just yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	85. Laurent/Damen - Damen Finds Laurent Crying

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Modern AU Damen stumbles across a crying Laurent

Damen was soaked to the bone, and really wishing he had accepted Nik’s offer of a ride home from class. He had expected the rain to stop, not increase, and of course his pride was too strong to allow him to duck into a shop, call Nik, and admit he was wrong. He was going to tough it out, drag himself home, and spend the next hour covered in blankets on the couch. 

It was a fine plan, and all he could think about, until he nearly tripped over someone who was huddled next to a building, trying to crowd himself under the overhang and protect himself from the rain.

Damen stopped dead in his tracks, and the man he’d nearly stepped on pulled back, digging the heel of his palm into his eyes, trying to stop himself from crying. Damen couldn’t tell the difference between tears and rain, but the man was sniffling, and his eyes were red. 

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” The man looked up, and despite how obvious it was that he _had_ been crying a moment ago, there was still a determined set to his jaw, and a steel resolution in his blue eyes. 

“You don’t seem fine,” Damen told him. “What are you doing out here? Besides freezing to death, I mean.”

“I said, I’m _fine_.”

“And I think you’re lying.”

“Why do you care?”

Damen shrugged. He wasn’t sure why he cared, honestly. Beyond basic human decency, this guy’s problems weren’t any of his business. “You look like you could use some help,” Damen replied, which was true enough. 

The other man glared at him, but some of the effect was lost by the way rain drops kept sliding down his face and through his blond hair. 

“I could call someone for you.”

The man shook his head. “I don’t have anyone to call. Do you think I’d be out here like this if I did?”

Damen didn’t think about he was going to say next, and was caught off guard by his own words. “Then come back to my apartment with me. Dry off, warm up.”

The man squinted suspiciously up at him. “Why? What do you want?”

“I _want_ you to not freeze to death out here in this rain. Come on.”

The man slowly got to his feet, and Damen could see the battle going on his mind between wanting to get out of the rain, and not wanting to have to choke down his pride. 

“I’m Damen, by the way.”

“Laurent.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	86. Laurent/Damen - Damen's Afraid of Spiders

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Damen being afraid of spiders

“Damen, it isn’t the size of your thumb. How can you possibly be afraid of it?”

Damen scowled at him. “It’s called a _phobia_ for a reason, Laurent. Would you just kill it already?”

“You’re _cowering_. From a _spider_.”

“Just _kill it_ before it goes behind the desk or something and we never see it again.”

“Wouldn’t it be _good_ if we never see it again?”

“No! That would mean it’s still here somewhere!”

Laurent chuckled, stepped over, and squished the spider in one motion. “There. Better?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“I expect to be well rewarded for my bravery in your time of need, Damianos.”

“Yeah, yeah. Have your fun.”

Laurent kissed his cheek. “You’re precious.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	87. Laurent/Damen - Unrequited Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent being in unrequited love with Damen

Laurent tried not to hate Jokaste. He really did. It wasn’t _her_ fault that they were so similar that they even had the same taste in men. It was hard though, sitting across the table from her, watching Damen put his arm casually around her shoulders like it belonged there. 

He seemed to spend a lot of time trying not to hate a lot of people. 

He tried not to hate Auguste, for becoming friends with Damen in the first place, and then for not realizing the kind of agony he was putting his little brother through every time he invited both Laurent and Damen out somewhere. 

He _did_ try to hate Damen, and never quite managed to pull that off. Damen was too genuine of a person for anyone to hold a grudge against him for long. Even Laurent, who prided himself on his ability to hold a grudge. 

At least Nikandros was usually around too. Laurent hated him for completely un-Damen related reasons, and therefore could hate him without guilt. 

“Hey,” Auguste said, tapping the book Laurent was reading to get his attention. “Damen’s coming over tonight.”

Laurent froze for half a second before regaining his control. “I won’t be here. I need to go the library, I have a project I need to finish.”

“You can’t do it here?”

“No. I need… Non-Internet sources.” It was a believable enough lie. 

Auguste scoffed. “Asshole professors, right? Well, good luck.”

Laurent nodded and made his escape. With his bag slung over his shoulder to give the appearance that he was going to do homework, he rushed out. 

Too late. He nearly collided with Damen as the other man got out of his car.   
Damen grinned his wide, bright smile and Laurent’s heart skipped for one painful beat.

“Laurent! Where are you going?”

Laurent tugged on the strap of his bag. “Library. Homework. You and Auguste have fun.”

Damen slapped his shoulder and Laurent both wished he wouldn’t do it, and that he’d do it again and let his hand linger this time. “We’ll miss having you around. You offer great movie commentary.”

“I try.” Laurent smiled at him as they parted ways. It felt feeble to him, but Damen seemed to believe it was genuine.

Laurent was all the way to the library before he managed to relax enough to loosen his death grip on his bag.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	88. No Ships - Nikandros Complains About Nicaise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Nicaise getting bored of bothering Damen and bothering Nikandros instead

“Does he ever stop?” Nikandros asked, his voice pleading.

Damen looked up, face momentarily puzzled, then snorted with laughter as he realized. “Not unless he gets bored, no.”

“Don’t laugh at me, Damen. It’s your fault I have to put up with this.”

“I’d say I’m sorry, but I’m really not. Better you than me, my friend.”

“Why _isn’t_ it you?”

“Because it used to be, and then I stopped being fun. It’s your turn.”

“I don’t _want_ a turn.”

“Too bad. What’s the matter, you can’t handle one Veretian teenager?”

“Not that one. I’m not even sure he’s a teenager, he might be a demon pretending.”

Damen laughed. “He’ll keep doing it as long as you keep reacting, you know.”

Nikandros sighed. “He’s very good at riling people up.”

“He gets a lot of practice. I think he and Laurent get together sometimes and exchange notes.”

“I’m hiding. From a _teenager_.”

“He stabbed me with a fork once. Hiding is probably a good idea.”

“You aren’t helping, Damianos.”

“To be perfectly honest, I’m not trying to.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	89. No Ships - De-aged Damen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Child!Damen with Laurent and Nikandros

“Sit _still_ ,” Laurent said, pushing Damen back down in his chair. He prided himself on being good with children, but this tiny, underaged version of Damen was about to drive him to an early grave.

Nikandros was too busy laughing at him to help. 

Damen crossed his arms over his chest and huffed with the sort of exasperation only small children were capable of. “How come I have to sit here? I want to go play!”

“Later,” Laurent said distractedly. “I promise. Just… Hold still for now, okay?” He looked imploringly at Nikandros. “Are you going to help me? You’re the one whose known him since he was this age.”

Nikandros was obviously enjoying himself. “He was a terror, wasn’t he?”

“I can hear you!” Damen said, offended. 

Nikandros grinned at the boy. “Yes, I know.”

“Where’s my father?”

Nikandros’ smile faltered. “He…“ He looked at Laurent for assistance.

Laurent stepped in. For Damen’s sake, not Nikandros’. “He’s at a meeting with the Vaskians. He won’t be back for a few days.” With any luck, they would have this reversed and have the old Damen back by then. 

“Oh.” Damen seemed unconcerned by his father’s absence. “Okay then.”

Laurent glared at Nikandros. “ _Now_ will you give me a hand keeping him under control?” he asked in a low voice so Damen wouldn’t hear. “Before he asks anymore awkward questions?”

Nikandros nodded, sobered a little by Damen’s painful question. He looked past Laurent. “Although it seems that first we need to find him.” 

Laurent turned to find that Damen had, indeed, made an escape while their backs were turned. 

“I am _very_ glad I didn’t know him as a child.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	90. No Ships - Laurent and Nikandros Bickering

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: More Laurent and Nikandros bickering

“You behave like a spoiled child,” Nikandros said. 

“Do I?” Laurent asked, his voice full of fake innocence. 

“Don’t pretend like you aren’t trying to get on my nerves.”

“I didn’t say anything, Nikandros. _You_ started this argument.”

“Just because I was the first to talk-”

“Yes, I believe that talking is a part of arguments.”

Nikandros made a frustrated noise. 

Laurent beamed. “You make this too easy, you know.”

Nikandros glared at him, though it lacked the heat it had held for the first several months of their knowing each other. “I’ll out-argue you one of these days.”

Laurent scoffed. “In your dreams, Nikandros.”

“I will. You’ll see.”

“Well. At the very least, I can promise you lots and lots of practice.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	91. No Ships - Laurent Grieving Auguste

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent immediately after Auguste's death

Laurent pulled his knees as close to his chest as possible. He was gasping for breath in between his sobs, and his vision was blurry from his tears. 

He’d tried not to cry. He really had. He’d thought his father and brother might be more proud of him if he stayed strong. Was it good enough if he just cried where no one could see him? 

He rubbed at his eyes with the back of one hand. His uncle should be out of his meetings soon. Laurent wanted to see him. He was the only family he had left now. But his uncle probably wouldn’t like it if he walked in to see Laurent with red eyes and a tear stained face. 

It still didn’t feel like it could be real. It was _Auguste_. He couldn’t just be _gone_. He was supposed to come back. He always came back. Every time he left, he promised he would come back, and every time he kept his promise. It didn’t seem possible that Auguste would have broken that promise, no matter how good that prince of Akielos was. 

Laurent dug his fingers into his leg hard enough for it to hurt. He was going to make that prince answer for this some day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	92. Laurent/Damen - Jealous Laurent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Jealous Laurent

“You look like your blood is boiling,” Jord said, taking a seat next to Laurent. 

Laurent glared at him, not because he wanted to glare at Jord, but because he had already been glaring and didn’t feel like stopping. “She _knows_ he has a boyfriend. He told her.”

The ‘she’ in question was the giggly drunk fawning over Damen. She had tripped and caught herself on her arm, and was now refusing to let go. Damen was being polite as ever to her. 

“I think she’s made up her mind not to care about little details like that. What are you so annoyed about though? It’s not like Damen’s going to take her up on her offer.”

“Why is he still talking to her? Why not just shake her off and come back over here?”

“Because Damen is a nice person and can’t tell people to get lost unless they do something _really_ awful.”

Laurent crossed his arms over his chest and slouched in his seat. He was aware that he was sulking, but he didn’t care. 

“Holy fuck,” Jord said, and Laurent jerked his head up to see that the girl had taken the initiative and kissed Damen. 

That, it seemed, was the something really awful Damen had needed. He pushed her off him - not roughly, even annoyed Damen was infuriatingly kind - and held her at arm’s length. 

“Leave.” The word was firm and clear enough to cut through the room to where Laurent was sitting, so he could hear it perfectly. 

Without waiting to see if the girl listened, Damen marched back to Laurent, sat down beside him, and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. Laurent smirked, feeling oddly triumphant, although there had never been a chance of the girl winning. 

He reached up and tilted Damen’s face towards his own. “You know, you really should have come over here and _really_ made it obvious who your boyfriend was, before it got this far.”

“Sorry. I was _trying_ to let her down gently.”

Laurent kissed him. “Which is very kind of you. But next time? Be mean about it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	93. Erasmus/Torveld - Meeting the Kings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Erasmus finding out who Damen is

Erasmus was used to having things to feel nervous about. Getting things wrong when you were a slave could be lethal. Even now, as a free man, he still got nervous as though it were a habit he couldn’t break. Being free was such a new experience, he felt certain he was doing it wrong somehow. 

This was something else all together though. He had not realized that being a free man _and_ Torveld’s lover would mean that he would be introduced to people in Torveld’s social circles as an equal. He had not realized he would be meeting _kings_.

“Relax,” Torveld said, a laugh in his voice. “King Damianos doesn’t bite. And you’ve _met_ Laurent.”

“As a _slave_. The hardest part is going to be keeping from throwing myself to the ground as soon as I see them.”

Torveld chuckled. “I’m confident you’ll manage.”

“I’m glad one of us is.” 

As they walked, Erasmus tried to distract himself from wondering what sort of a man Damianos was. He’d thought about it often when he’d been being trained to serve him, but his ideas of what made a man great had changed since then. Damianos had to be someone truly exceptional to have gotten Prince - _King_ \- Laurent’s attention. He must be as handsome as Erasmus had always daydreamed him to be. And clever. And kind. 

“Laurent!” Torveld said. “It’s good to see you again. And you must -” Torveld cut off for a moment. “King Damianos.” He sounded stunned. 

Erasmus looked at King Damianos too. “ _Damen?”  
_

Damen - because it was _obviously_ Damen - smiled at him like there wasn’t a crown on his head and the king of Vere on his arm. “Hello, Erasmus. It’s good to see you again.”

Erasmus thought he might be about to faint.

“Thats…” Torveld started. At least _he_ was surprised too, Erasmus would have been very annoyed if he’d known about this and not warned him.

“Not very well known,” Laurent finished for him. “But yes, Kastor sent Damianos to me.”

“And did you… know who he was?”

“Of course. Not that _he_ knew that I knew.”

Erasmus was still staring at Damen. Damianos. Whatever. The fellow slave who had rescued him from the horrors of the court of Vere. The man he had been trained to serve. The two images refused to coexist. 

“You helped us,” Erasmus said before he realized he was going to speak. “Me, and the other slaves.”

“Of course I did.” Damen’s voice was just as kind as it had been when they’d spoken in the garden, or in the tent during the hunt. “You’re my people.”

“We were _slaves_.”

“So was I.”

Akielos suddenly outlawing slavery suddenly made sense. Erasmus thought he needed to sit down, but that it would be rude to do so. 

“Well,” Torveld said. He was trying to regain his composure. “That is certainly a surprise.”

“That’s been the usual response,” Damen said. He was smiling and it was bright and genuine. It seemed almost too carefree to belong to a king. 

“Why haven’t you been informing people in advance in order to avoid it? Surely you can’t keep it a secret.”

Laurent laughed. Erasmus had liked Laurent when he’d met him, had thought him kind, but he had not struck Erasmus as the kind of man who could laugh like that, like everything in the world was just as it ought to be. “We enjoy the reaction. You should have seen the look on this merchant friend of ours’ face when _he_ found out.” 

Torveld recovered, they began to speak about whatever business it was they had come to discuss, but Erasmus was still staring at Damen. It felt as though he were getting a glimpse into a world that wasn’t, but had almost been. 

Torveld’s arm appeared around his waist and tugged him a little closer. He thought everyone in _this_ world was probably much happier than in the other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	94. Laurent/Damen - Bodyswap

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent and Damen bodyswap

When Nikandros and Jord entered the room, the words ‘they said it was urgent’ echoing in their ears, they were both expecting to see signs of an emergency. They weren’t expecting to see their kings, sitting across from one another, both with their arms crossed over their chests and looking vaguely annoyed about something, both apparently unharmed. 

“What’s happened?” Nikandros asked, looking at Damen. 

Damen raised an eyebrow and something about the gesture seemed… off. Damen uncrossed his arms and pointed at Laurent.

Laurent was slouched in his seat. That was odd too. Nikandros had never seen Laurent slouch before.

“Are you all right?” Jord asked his king. 

Laurent sighed, but it was not his usual, long-suffering, slightly condescending sigh. “I’m not Laurent.”

“What?” Jord looked at Nikandros, as though he might understand the joke.

“I am,” Damen said, and his tone had the mix of boredom and annoyance Nikandros had thought only Laurent could achieve. “And before you ask, no, we don’t know how it happened.”

“So you…” Nikandros looked between them. “…You switched?”

Laurent - Damen? - nodded. “We woke up like this. And it is really weird, in case you were curious.” He looked at Damen - Laurent - and said, “You are very short.”

“ _You_ are very tall. I’m going to crack your head open on a ceiling if we don’t get this fixed.”

Jord looked from one king to the other. “You two have the strangest magical accidents.”

Damen, who was actually Laurent, huffed. Nikandros rubbed his temples. He needed a new way to think of them or he was going to give himself a headache.   
“We’ll start investigating this,” he said. “The fortunate thing about you two and your penchant for magical trouble is that I’m learning all the best ways to investigate curses.”

“There’s always a bright side,” Damen said, then flashed Nikandros his best and brightest grin using Laurent’s face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	95. Laurent/Damen - Continuation of One Sided Auguste/Damen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Continuation of one sided Auguste/Damen (Chapter 77)

Auguste had barely registered Laurent entering the room before he had taken a seat on Auguste’s bed, pulled a knee up to his chest, and started staring at him. 

“Good morning,” Auguste said. 

Laurent said nothing. He was frowning. 

“What’s wrong?”

There was a long silence, but Auguste knew better than to push his brother too hard. 

“You’re in love with him.”

“What?”

“Don’t insult me, Auguste. I’ve suspected for a while, but…” Laurent sighed. “I didn’t want to believe it. But you’re in love with Damen, aren’t you?”

Although it was a question, Auguste knew there was no point in trying to give a false answer. Laurent wouldn’t be asking if he didn’t know. 

He couldn’t make himself say the truth either. He couldn’t look at Laurent. His gaze dropped to the floor. 

Laurent breathed a curse he must have learned from Damen. “I was hoping I was wrong.”

“When was the last time you were wrong, Laurent? You’ve always been too smart for your own good.” The teasing fell flatly between them. 

“How long have you - Auguste, why didn’t you _say_ anything?”

“He makes you happy. I didn’t want to… _taint_ that by making you know that I was… That I’m jealous. You deserve to be happy, Laurent. And Damen makes you happy. You two are perfect for each other.”

“You know, this would be easier if you would be angry. Or bitter.”

“I agree.” If he could hold a grudge against Laurent, this might hurt him less. “But I don’t think I have it in me to be angry with you, Laurent. It isn’t _your_ fault we have the same taste in men.” There was another long pause, as Auguste debated whether or not to ask his next question. “Did you tell Damen?”

Laurent shook his head. “I don’t see how that would go well. I didn’t even want to talk about it with _you_ , but… I guess I needed to hear you admit it.”

“I’m not going to do anything. You know I’m not.”

“I know. Damen wouldn’t either. I just…” Laurent shook his head, sighing. “I’m going to go. I’ll talk to you later.”

Auguste wanted to call him back. Wanted to fix whatever it was he was sure had just splintered between them. But he had no words, and the door swung shut with a click.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	96. Laurent/Damen - Insecure Laurent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent being insecure about not being a good enough lover

Damen brushed his fingers through Laurent’s hair. “Your thinking too hard again.”

Laurent looked up at him. He’d spaced out, he realized. “I’m all right, Damen.”

Damen gave him the look that said he didn’t appreciate Laurent treating him like he was an idiot. 

Laurent sighed. “It’s nothing. Really. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“That doesn’t sound like nothing to me.”

“You aren’t going to let this go, are you?”

“I’m not planning to, no. And don’t try to change the subject like you always do.”

“It isn’t _my_ fault you always fall for it.”

“What did I just say, Laurent?”

Of course, this _would_ be the first time Damen saw right through his attempts to distract him. 

“Laurent. Talk to me.” Damen’s fingers were in his hair again. Laurent could never seem to keep his guard properly up when he did that.

Laurent rested his cheek on Damen’s shoulder so he didn’t have to look him in the face and closed his eyes. “I’m only… I started thinking about my… lack of experience.”

“Experience?”

Laurent huffed. It was so _difficult_ sometimes, to talk to Damen about things he didn’t want to talk about. “You have significantly more of it than I do.”

Damen pulled back and tilted Laurent’s head up. Laurent reluctantly opened his eyes. “You don’t think you’re good enough in bed?”

Laurent shrugged, wishing Damen didn’t make him feel so exposed. “It’s nothing, really. I was just thinking.”

“If it was nothing, you wouldn’t be thinking about it. Laurent, you don’t really think I’m… _comparing_ you, do you?”

As it happened, Laurent had recently been having trouble believing anything else, but he shrugged noncommittally. “I told you, it’s nothing. Just a… A passing thought that occurred to me.”

Damen’s glare said he didn’t believe it. “Laurent, I love you. I love everything _about_ you. I’m not comparing you, or judging you, or whatever else it is you think I’m doing.”

Laurent laid his cheek on Damen’s shoulder again. “Can we please stop talking about this and go back to you kissing me and playing with my hair? That was much nicer.”

“Laurent…”

“Damianos. Please. I promise, I believe you, all right? I don’t want to talk about it.”

Damen did not sound like he believed him when he murmured an agreement, but he did return to running his fingers through Laurent’s hair. Laurent screwed his eyes shut, and returned to trying to blot out the thoughts of Damen hiding his dissatisfaction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	97. Laurent/Damen - Hairdresser

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Damen as a hairdresser, having to cut Laurent's hair and not wanting to

****

Damen was fairly certain his brain had temporarily short-circuited when the man had walked through the door. He was beautiful, and exactly Damen’s type, and it took all of Damen’s willpower to quit staring at him with his mouth hanging open. 

“So, what, um - What did you want done today?” Damen asked, and then focused on listening to the man’s response.

He gestured at his hair. “I want it cut short.”

That was practically a _crime_. The man had beautiful, long, blond hair, and just the right type of face to make it impossible to imagine him having any other kind of haircut. 

But it wasn’t like correcting customers was part of Damen’s job description. “How short?”

The man looked at him like he was being purposefully dense, and raised his hand to his ear. “ _Short_.”

“Are you sure? I mean, that’s a lot of hair to cut off at once, and you really pull off your current length. You don’t want-”

“It’s hair. It will grow back. I’m sure. Are you going to do your job or not?”

Beautiful but rude, but then, Damen _was_ butting in where he didn’t really have any business being. “Just don’t want you being annoyed at me after,” he said, pretending it had nothing to do with him thinking the man’s hair was exactly the length it should be. “Nothing worse than being yelled at for what the customer said they wanted.”

To his surprise, the man laughed at that. “After years of retail, I actually know exactly what you mean. But I know what I’m doing. And it’s just hair. It will grow back.”

“Okay. Take a seat.” Damen tried not to think about the fact that he was fairly certain he was committing some sort of crime against fashion or humanity or existence. “I’m Damen, by the way.”

“Laurent.”

“Why the sudden change in hairstyle? If you don’t mind my asking.” He really wanted an answer, but he was doing his best to play it off as idle conversation. He always talked to people while he cut their hair. It made it less awkward for everyone. 

“Personal reasons. I like it long, but… I just need it to be short for a while. Like I said, it’ll grow back. It isn’t the end of the world.”

Damen felt even worse cutting Laurent’s hair knowing that Laurent didn’t really want it cut at all. But again. It wasn’t any of his business. 

Laurent was, as it turned out, a good conversationalist. Mostly, they exchanged stories of the worst customers they had ever encountered. Laurent had even more stories than Damen did, though Damen suspected at least a few of them had to be made up or exaggerated for the benefit of his audience. 

Laurent was still beautiful with his hair cut short, but the new hairstyle just didn’t suit him the way the other had. He paid, and then handed Damen a piece of paper with his number on it. “If you want to keep trying to one up my stories of terrible days in customer service,” he said. He winked, and walked out the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	98. Laurent/Damen - Damen Negotiates for Laurent's Release

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Damen bargaining with the Regent for Laurent's life

Theomedes had taught Damen how to do a lot of things in preparation for his taking the throne. How to lead armies. How to inspire crowds. How to motivate his men. To look at a map or a scout report and understand everything it was telling him. 

He had not taught Damen the art of subtlety and negotiation. His father had believed in shows of strength, in refusing compromise, in getting what you wanted or getting nothing at all. 

Growing up, Damen had believed his father had been right, because it had been his father, and his culture, and all he knew. Now, he knew better and would give anything to have had just one lesson that might have prepared him for the task at hand. 

The Regent of Vere sat in the throne that Damen knew to belong to Laurent. Like the first time they’d met, Damen could almost allow himself to believe that he was a good man, an honest man. He was a very good actor. 

Damen forced himself through all the proper shows of politeness. If this attempt to free Laurent failed it would not be because of Damen’s pride. 

“So, King Damianos,” the Regent said, “you have come to negotiate for the release of my nephew, yes?”

Damen respectfully inclined his head. “Yes, I have. I believe him to be innocent of the crimes he has been imprisoned for.”

“His trial has passed.”

Damen didn’t think it could truly be called a trial. It had taken place less than a day after Laurent’s capture and arrest, with no chance for anyone who might be on Laurent’s side to make it there to testify. It was a miracle Damen had even made it in time for this negotiation. He had worried more than once that the Regent might move up the day of Laurent’s execution. “I am aware, your highness.” The ‘your highness’ nearly caught in his throat. That was Laurent’s title and this man was unworthy of it. “I am not here to overturn your ruling. I understand the rules of courts in Vere. I merely wished to see if we could work out some alternative sentence. I do not wish to see your nephew killed.”

He waited for the Regent’s answer, holding his breath. Surely the Regent was too calculating to have allowed this meeting to take place if he wasn’t willing to at least consider allowing Laurent to live. 

On the other hand, the Regent was also too calculating and suspicious to believe that Laurent would allow him to continue to sit on his throne, unchallenged, for the rest of his days.

“And what sort of alternative sentence did you have in mind?”

“Release him into my custody. In my kingdom.”

“Exile to Akielos? That is a tempting offer, Damianos, though I’m not sure it is a punishment fitting the crimes my nephew has committed. Still, I hardly wish to see my only remaining family member dead… But I cannot be seen to be playing favorites, you understand.”

Damen gritted his teeth together, concentrating on keeping his face neutral. Veretian politics did not allow for outbursts during negotiations. He would be setting up his own failure, and signing Laurent’s death warrant as he did so. 

The idea of Laurent, hurt and abandoned somewhere down in the cells beneath the castle, was all that kept Damen playing the Regent’s game. 

“You already have earned yourself a reputation as a man willing to give his subjects second chances,” Damen said, referring to the way Govart could shake off his crimes time and time again. “If anything, executing your nephew might change the public opinion of you to be one of a man who is too heartless to care about his family, despite his kindness towards others.” 

A flicker of annoyance broke the Regent’s calm facade. Damen had hoped he would find an excuse to bring up the man’s blatant favoritism of Govart. He couldn’t claim to be executing Laurent out of fairness while Govart walked free. Damen only hoped that the response would be to free Laurent, rather than to have Govart brought in again and executed at last. 

“If I were to send Laurent to you,” the Regent said at last, carefully choosing his words, “what reassurance would I have that my nephew would not resume his scheming ways? I cannot have him continuing to threaten Vere.”

The only threat to Vere was the man currently on its throne. “I am sure that Laurent could be persuaded to renounce his claim to the throne in exchange for his life. And I would keep him close, to ensure he does not go back on his word.”

Until Damen found a suitable way to get the Regent’s head mounted on a spike, that was. 

“I will take it up with my advisors and think on it, Damianos. Please, make yourself comfortable here in the meantime.” 

Damen bowed and left the room. That had felt like a possible victory, but if it was not he needed to have a plan in place to free Laurent before his execution arrived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	99. Laurent/Damen - Olympics

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Olympics AU (Disclaimer: I know very little about the Olympics)

“Are you a rider? You smell like horse.” 

Laurent glared up at the man he’d collided with, even as he took his offered hand. “ _You_  certainly know how to make a first impression, don’t you?”

The man smiled sheepishly. “Sorry. I’m Damen.”

“Laurent. And yes, I’m a rider. And you are…?” 

“Table tennis.”

Laurent stared at him for a minute. “That’s not a sport.” And it _really_  wasn’t the sort of sport that gave someone muscles like that. Damen looked like he might be about to burst out of his shirt. 

Damen frowned. “Now who’s making a bad impression?”

“Ping pong isn’t a sport.”

“It’s _table tennis_ , and yes, it is. Do you want me to start criticizing what _you_  do?”

“Horseback riding takes a lot more energy than - _table tennis_.” 

“Also leaves you smelling worse, apparently.”

“Yes, because I actually have to sweat. And so does my horse, for that matter.”

Damen laughed. “All over you, apparently.”

To his surprise, Laurent realized he was smiling. “Well, I am _sitting_  on her.”

“There is that.” Damen grinned, a disarmingly bright and carefree smile. “Maybe you could introduce me to her?”

“Hmm. Maybe. But I’m warning you, I won’t be persuaded on this table tennis issue.”

“I’m going to choose to take that as a challenge.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	100. Laurent/Damen - You Don't Want Me Part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Continuation of 'You don't want me' (Chapters 57 and 66)

Over the next three days, Laurent picked up his phone to call Damen a dozen times, and always put it right back down. Damen had given a good speech. He could admit that. That didn’t necessarily mean anything. 

He wanted it to. He wanted it to mean something more than he’d ever wanted anything in his life. So bad that it felt like a hole was growing in his chest with every moment he spent not calling him back. 

But he didn’t think he could take it. Damen had sounded like he meant it, but he wouldn’t be the first who had. People were unfortunately good liars. 

He stared at his phone. It had been three days. Even if his answer was no, he should still call. It wouldn’t be right to just leave Damen waiting. He had promised to call. Once he’d thought about it.

And he _had_  thought about it. Thought about it and thought about it until he thought might go crazy. Not that it had helped. He still hadn’t made a decision.

“Hello?”

Laurent jumped. He hadn’t realized he’d been dialing the phone. “Damen. Hi.”

There was silence on the line for a long time. “What did you want to talk about?”

“I’ve been thinking about our conversation the other day.”

“Have you… made a decision yet?” Damen sounded hopeful, but not pushy. And he hadn’t called during the last three days to press Laurent for an answer. 

“I’m - I’m not sure. But I don’t think I can think about it anymore than I already have.  So I thought I should call.”

“Okay. So, where does that leave us?”

Laurent sighed, rubbing his forehead. “I think… I think I’m willing to give this a chance. To give you a chance. You sounded like you meant what you said, at the coffee shop.”

“I did mean it.”

“So, would you, I don’t know, like to go out for dinner one night? I’m free on Friday.”

“That sounds good, Laurent. And… I promise not to let you down.”

Laurent didn’t trust promises like that. But when it was Damen making them, he wanted to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	101. Laurent/Damen - Damen Courting Laurent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent is surprised when two years after getting married Damen brings him flowers, read poetry etc (aka Damen decides to court Laurent properly even after being married)

Laurent’s skill with the Akielon language was… decent. Greatly improved over when he and Damen had first met, certainly. He still stumbled over unfamiliar words, blanked on what he was trying to say halfway through his sentence, and he couldn’t seem to shake his accent no matter how hard he tried. But it was enough to get him through. Had he been anyone else he probably would have said his skill with the language was excellent, but he wasn’t anyone else, and it wasn’t good enough for him.

And decent, it seemed, was not enough to give him a good grasp on how to read Akielon poetry.

The book had appeared that morning sometime after breakfast, along with a small bouquet of flowers that Laurent had placed in a vase and arranged so they were lovely to look at from any angle. They had clearly been gifts from Damen, though Damen had not been around since their arrival to confirm.

Laurent’s day had involved a lot of trade negotiations, and Damen was off dealing with a border dispute. Laurent’s day had gone surprisingly quickly, and it seemed that Damen’s was dragging, so Laurent was killing the time by reading the book of poems. Or attempting to, at least. Reading poetry was very different from reading reports, it seemed. 

Laurent was so absorbed in his attempts that he didn’t hear the door open, and didn’t realize Damen had returned until he collapsed beside him with a groan. 

“That should not have been that difficult,” he said. “Soldiers and their fucking _pride_  sometimes.”

Laurent smiled at him with an expression of false sympathy. Damen rolled his eyes and nodded at the book. “Are you enjoying it?”

Laurent frowned at the book. “Reading it is a slow process. But I _think_  I am.” He closed the book and turned to face his husband better. “Is there a reason you left me a book of Akielon poetry?”

Damen smiled and Laurent thought he looked just a tiny bit smug. “It’s a traditional part of Akielon courting customs.”

Laurent stared at him, trying to slow his suddenly racing heart. Not for the first time, he cursed his pale skin and how easily it flushed red under Damen’s attention. “Damianos,” he said firmly, working hard to keep the flutter from his voice, “we have been married for two years.”

“And it occurred to me that I never properly courted you. And I refuse to have courted people that I didn’t marry while not having courted my own husband.” He reached over and plucked the poetry book from Laurent’s hands. “Here. They’re better if you listen to them.”

Laurent only resisted for a moment before allowing Damen to pull him to his chest, where he promptly made himself comfortable. His eyes slid half shut, listening to Damen’s voice tackle the words Laurent’s brain had so greatly struggled with.

The poems were infinitely better when read by him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	102. Laurent/Damen - At Their Daughter's 15th Birthday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Was technically a prompt about Laurent wanting to end the alliance, but I didn't really follow it... like, at all

“I can’t believe she’s fifteen,” Damen said, watching as their daughter flitted through the crowd, effortlessly charming everyone she passed. “We cannot be this old.”

Laurent smirked into his drink and lifted a hand to the side of Damen’s face, brushing away a stray lock of hair. “Oh, really? This gray at your temples begs to differ.”

Damen lightheartedly swatted Laurent’s hand away. “I’m serious. We’ve had this for twenty years, Laurent. _Twenty_. Do you remember when we thought we wouldn’t even get to have it for a day?”

Laurent smiled, a little bittersweet. “I remember that very well. And I am _very_  glad it is twenty years in the past.” He smirked again. “Although _you’re_ sounding awfully nostalgic.”

“Oh, just reminiscing about you making me run around on rooftops half the night. They were good times.”

Laurent laughed. “Well, I suppose we could always break off our alliance and find some excuse to start it all over again. Think you could still keep up with me?”

“I recognize that you’re teasing me, but I am now tempted to challenge you to a rooftop race.”

“We could probably sneak out of here. Charlie has rather captured the crowd’s attention.”

Damen glanced to one side. “Nikandros and Jord would have our heads.”

“Is that meant to discourage me?”

“Oh, absolutely not. Come on, I bet we can make it to a decent window before they realize we’re gone.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	103. Laurent/Damen - Taking Care of a Sick Auguste

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Damen and Laurent taking care of a sick Auguste

“Has he driven you up a wall yet?” Laurent asked, smugly leaning against the doorframe as Damen exited the room. 

Damen gave a melodramatic groan in response. “I’ve seen him get _stabbed_  before. Stabbed. Almost fatally. He just works through it. But now he has a mild flu and you’d think he was dying.”

Laurent was smirking the insufferable smirk he was infamous for. “Has he given you the speech about how you need to look after his kingdom if he doesn’t make it through this?”

Damen raised an eyebrow. 

“He’ll get there. He always does. He’ll give you a whole ‘if I don’t make it through’ speech. Just agree with him while he does it. If he thinks you aren’t taking him seriously, he’ll start crying about how the kingdom is doomed.”

Damen looked back at the door he’d just come out of. “Your brother is a very dramatic person.” 

“Yes. You get used to it.”

Damen chuckled. “You know, Laurent, I think this might be the longest we’ve gone without arguing with each other.”

“If Auguste had known, he would have given himself the flu months ago.”

“And subjected himself to this horrible fate?”

Laurent laughed at that, a genuine laugh. Damen didn’t think he’d ever heard him make such a noise before. “Come on, Damianos. Let’s get something to eat before my brother starts crying that we’ve abandoned him to die alone.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	104. Laurent/Damen - Laurent Didn't Know

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: What if Laurent didn't know who Damen was until Damen told him

Damen was still talking. Why was Damen still talking? Did he really think Laurent was capable of listening? Did he think Laurent _cared_?

 _‘I’m Prince Damianos.’_  Just like that. As though that was something Laurent could accept, could wrap his head around. 

Before he realized he was moving, Laurent lunged to the side, grabbed a dagger off the table, and threw it at Damen with all of his strength. 

Either his aim was worse than he thought or Damen had better reflexes, because it didn’t even come close to hitting him. It did make him stop talking though.

“I’m sorry,” he said, his voice soft, the voice people used to calm frightened horses. Laurent was furious at being spoken to as though he were a child in need of reassurance. “I should have told you sooner. There was just never a good time. There’s no good time for that.”

“No. There isn’t.” It was an agreement, but it was sharp around all the edges and dripping with poison. Damen winced as though it had stung him. 

“I’m sorry,” he repeated. 

“I don’t care. Get out, before I decide that the repercussions of killing you right now don’t matter to me. Don’t ever let me see you again.”

“Laurent-”

“ _Out_.”

Damen left. Laurent clutched the hilt of his sword until his knuckles turned white and his fingers ached. 

He needed _Prince Damianos_  right now. He needed his army. When the war was over, he would kill him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	105. Laurent/Damen - Cockblocked

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Nikandros and Auguste cockblocking Damen and Laurent

Damen caught Laurent by the wrist and tugged him close. “I think we’re finally alone.”

“I think that’s the third time you’ve said that this week, and you haven’t been right yet. Kiss me before we get interrupted.”

Damen obeyed, closing his eyes and basking in the pleasure of finally having Laurent to himself, finally being able to do this, finally - 

“Damianos, there you are!” Damen and Laurent jerked back and away from one another at Nikandros’ voice.

Laurent’s face contorted with annoyance bordering on fury before he got himself under control and returned to cool indifference. 

“Here I am,” Damen said, hoping his voice sounded neutral. 

Auguste appeared behind Nikandros. “Laurent! What are you doing here? You’re missing the party.”

“Oh, I just stepped out for a moment. Needed some air.”

“Well, you’ve gotten some. Come on.” Auguste grabbed his brother by the arm and led him back towards the main room where all their guests were gathered. Laurent shot Damen a look over his shoulder that was equal parts annoyance and disappointment. 

Nikandros stepped to Damen’s side, unaware of how much Damen didn’t want to talk to him right now. “What were you and Laurent talking about?”

Damen shrugged. “Just saying hello when we passed each other.”

“Well, come on. There’s at least three women who want to dance with you and I’m determined that you won’t let them down.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	106. Laurent/Damen - Laurent Negotiating with the Regent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent pleading with the Regent for Damen's life

For the first time in his life, Laurent truly had no patience for playing the Veretian game of politics. 

“You know what I want. I know what you want. Are you going to make us dance around each other before we get to it?”

“You truly have no talent for politics, nephew. Is it any wonder I don’t think you should be sitting on my brother’s throne?”

“You want me to give up my claim to the throne. I want you to release Damianos. I do _not_  want to spend hours talking in circles with you.” 

“Does that mean you’re willing to give up your claim? Admit that you aren’t, and never have been, suitable to be king of Vere?”

“If you let Damianos go unharmed I’ll give up whatever you want.” 

“Nephew, didn’t you ever learn not to be so transparent about your priorities?”

“I told you, you already know what I want. I refuse to be your puppet just to amuse you for a while longer. Release Damianos. I’ll give you what you want.”

“Very well, nephew. We have a deal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	107. Laurent/Damen - "Yes, Uncle"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent accidentally calling Damen 'uncle' again, this time with Damen knowing what it means

“I can’t believe you got drunk again,” Damen said, laughing. “Didn’t you learn your lesson the last time?”

They’d finally reached their rooms, but even now that they’d stopped walking Laurent was still leaning against him and clinging to his arm. He frowned, a more genuine, petulant variety of frown than he ever wore while sober. “I couldn’t let Makedon win.”

“Of course you couldn’t.” Damen gently deposited Laurent on the bed and then began unlacing his boots. “Can you get your boots off yourself or do you need help?”

Laurent glared at his boots like he might be able to convince them to untie themselves and spring off his feet. He threw his head against the pillows instead of answering, and appeared to space out, staring at the ceiling.

Damen chuckled, threw his boots across the room, then reached over and unlaced and tugged off Laurent’s. “There. I’m not taking anything else off, I’m too drunk.”

“I’m drunker than you,” Laurent said. His voice sounded strange, like he was only half present, and part of him was somewhere far away.

“Yes, you are. Go to sleep, Laurent.”

Laurent was quiet for a long time and Damen, busying himself with getting into bed and putting out the lamps, thought he’d fallen asleep. 

Until, in a small, uncertain voice, Laurent said, “Yes, Uncle.”

Damen almost knocked over the candle he was snuffing out as he whirled around to look at his husband. 

Laurent was still staring upwards, eyes half closed now, apparently unaware that he’d said anything odd. 

Damen suddenly felt more sober than he’d ever been in his life, though the feeling was being overtaken by the rush of blood in his ears and the bile rising from his stomach to his throat. 

“Laurent.”

Laurent lolled his head to the side to look at him, his own words still not processing for him. “Hmm?”

Damen didn’t know what to say. What was there to say to that? “Just - Go to sleep.”

“Mmm.” Laurent was asleep in moments.

Damen stayed awake for hours. If the Regent had not been executed months ago, he would have killed him right then. He wanted to kill him again. He wanted to find him in the afterlife and make sure he was suffering appropriately, and then add more suffering on top of that. 

He didn’t think he’d ever shaken from anger like this before. 

The next morning, Laurent had a hangover. Damen wasn’t sure if his own headache was from a hangover or from the lack of sleep. Probably both, if he was being honest with himself. 

“You look even worse than I feel,” Laurent joked, nudging his shoulder. “How did you manage that?”

Damen couldn’t even muster up the will to attempt a smile.

Laurent’s face went serious. “Damen? What’s wrong?”

“How much of last night do you remember?”

“Not very much. Why do you ask? Did something… happen?”

“You… said something.”

“Less embarrassing then when I asked you to take me to bed that one night, I hope,” Laurent said, but he didn’t sound amused. 

“You called me ‘uncle’.” 

Laurent’s already pale face paled further. “I - I what?”

“You made some comment about how you were more drunk than me, and I told you to stop talking and go to sleep. And you said ‘yes, uncle’.” 

Laurent looked away and strode across the room, out of Damen’s reach. “Ah. That’s… unusual. I wasn’t-”

“Laurent, don’t.”

Laurent bit his lip and folded his arms over his chest, staring down at the floor, his back still to Damen. 

“I know what your uncle did to you. We’ve talked about that before.”

“Yes. And I would rather not talk about it again. As I’m sure you can imagine, it isn’t the most pleasant of topics for me.”

“Well, when you start calling me uncle while you’re in bed I think it’s time to revisit the subject.”

“It isn’t as though it _meant_  anything. I was just drunk. Didn’t realize who you were.”

“You mistook me for _him,_ Laurent. That means, however drunk you were, you were _scared_  last night. You were uncomfortable and scared and there wasn’t anything I could do about it. And we need to talk about it, because I have never hated anyone as much as I hated your uncle last night, and I’ve never been as disgusted with my own inability to do something as I was last night. I need to know why you said it so I can make sure you _never_  have cause to say it again.”

Laurent tugged a hand through his hair and turned to face him. He looked miserable, and it was only emphasized by the fact that he was still wearing yesterday’s clothes. “I don’t _know_  why I said, Damen. I don’t remember saying it. I don’t remember ever having said it to _him_.” He sighed. “Which is probably the whole reason he used to get me drunk in the first place.”

“I can’t believe you’re willing to get drunk now, after that.”

“Only if you’re around. I trust you to make sure I don’t do anything I’ll regret. Or to… take advantage of me.” He shifted from one foot to the other for a moment. “I suppose I should have mentioned that before. Even if I’m… _willing_ … I don’t want - I would prefer to not-”

“Never while you’re drunk,” Damen agreed. “No matter how many times you ask me.”

Laurent smiled weakly. “Thank you. And as for making sure I don’t call you ‘uncle’ again… I don’t know, Damen. I trust you. Implicitly. But I don’t know how to control my memories while I’m drunk.”

He sat back down next to Damen on the bed and laid his head on his shoulder. “Perhaps… Perhaps I should drink less when Makedon is here.”

Damen chuckled, not reassured, but feeling slightly better. He put his arm around Laurent. “I think that would be wise regardless of your reasons. But I don’t know if your drunken pride would let you. I believe your excuse last night was that you couldn’t let him win.”

“Well, I couldn’t. I have a reputation to maintain, Damianos.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	108. Laurent/Damen - Soulmate AU

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Soulmate AU, where your soulmate's name is written on your body.
> 
>  
> 
> I am (very slowly) turning this into a full length fic

_Damianos. Damianos. Damianos._

The name had appeared, wrapped around Laurent’s left arm, when Laurent was eight. He had excitedly shown Auguste, who had laughed at Laurent’s first fumbling attempts to pronounce it. 

“At least it’s pretty unique,” Auguste had said. “You’ll know when you find him.”

Laurent rewrote the name again and again, in every writing utensil he owned, in every color imaginable. He wrote it in notebooks, and practiced it in fancy writing in sketchbooks. He doodled it in the margins of his homework. Sometimes he added his own name alongside it, to see what they looked like together. 

_Laurent and Damianos. _Damianos and Laurent.__

When Laurent was thirteen, Auguste joined the army. Laurent put aside all pretenses of teenage dignity, and clung to him, begging him not to leave, a pit of terror growing inside him. Auguste had taken him by the shoulders, looked him in the eye, and promised to return. 

“I need to go, Laurent,” he’d said. “It was in dad’s will, remember? If we want our inheritance, I have to serve.”

Laurent shook his head. “Then I don’t want our inheritance. _Don’t. Go.”_

“It’ll be all right, Laurent. You’ll see.” He took Laurent’s left arm. “You just keep an eye out for Damianos, okay? I’ll be back in no time. And I’ll write. I promise.”

He did write. Regularly at first. Then less so. And then they stopped coming at all.

Laurent didn’t know what it was about his uncle that was sending shivers up his spine every time he looked at him. He only knew they got worse the more time passed between letters. As he began to dread getting a letter from the military, he began to lay awake at night, tracing over the letters on his arm from memory. He muttered the name like a prayer. 

 _Damianos. Damianos. Damianos_.

The letters from Auguste stopped. Eventually, a letter came saying ‘Missing in action. Presumed dead.’ 

And when Laurent thought his life couldn’t get any worse, his uncle proved him wrong.

_Damianos. Damianos. Damianos._

“Don’t tell me you really think _you_  have a soulmate?” his uncle said one day over breakfast, laughing. “Not one that wants you, anyway.”

Laurent looked up. He hadn’t realized he’d been running his fingers over the name again. “Doesn’t… Doesn’t everybody?”

“Yours won’t want you, Laurent. _I_  barely want you, and I’m family.”

Laurent looked down again, willing himself not to cry in front of his uncle. The first time he’d done that… It had not ended well. He stared at the writing. And it was difficult to not believe that his uncle was right.

 _Damianos_.

Four years later, Laurent had given up on looking at the name. He wore long sleeve shirts, and made a point of never looking down at his left arm. Damianos was no one to him. He felt like an imaginary friend Laurent had once had, and had since outgrown. 

And if Laurent were to find him, he’d be disappointed in the owner of the name imprinted somewhere on _his_  body. Not that that was Laurent’s problem. 

Laurent was not going to join the military when he turned eighteen. Once he was of age, he was going to be broke and disowned. And _free_. 

He was counting the days. Looking for work. For apartments. A bus ticket somewhere far from his uncle. 

Soulmates were a fairytale, and the name Damianos never crossed his mind anymore.

On his eighteenth birthday, Laurent’s bag was already packed. Just one. If he couldn’t carry it, he didn’t need it. He was waiting at the bus stop, not even sure where he was going. He’d bought a ticket as far away as he could afford. Once he got there… he’d manage. He was free. He’d learn what to do with it.

The bus was full, and a man sat down next to him. Handsome. Tall. Muscular. Dog tags around his neck. 

Laurent caught himself staring at them, swinging from their chain. The man noticed. 

“They’re just dog tags.”

“Sorry. My brother was in the army.”

“Was?”

“He never came home.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.” The man looked out the window for a long time. “A lot of people never make it home. I almost didn’t. And even the ones who do…” He sighed. “I was only out here to get the last of my things from my ex-girlfriend. She doesn’t understand why I have to live so close to this hospital. But I have a friend there, and I can’t abandon him.”

“Friend from the army, I’m guessing?”

The man nodded. “He saved my life. But he was shot. It – messed up his head. That, and being a prisoner for nearly two years beforehand. His memories are all over the place. I don’t even know his name. Sometimes he talks like he’s a soldier, but if he was his records are missing. Slipped through the cracks somehow, I guess. But it means I can’t find his family.”

“Maybe he doesn’t have one. Wouldn’t they be looking?”

The man shrugged. “He has a brother, at least. He gets that out sometimes. But the name always escapes him. And he gives a different age every time I ask.” He smiled apologetically. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to unload on you.”

“I don’t mind.” Laurent found it morbidly comforting to know that there were other people in the world who felt as broken and lonely and miserable as he did. “I’m Laurent, by the way.”

The man hesitated for a moment, which Laurent thought was ridiculous – they’d clearly already become friendly enough to exchange names. “Damen,” he finally said. “It’s nice to meet you, Laurent.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	109. Laurent/Damen - Damen possessed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Damen getting possessed

Damen was screaming. For all the good it was doing him. His mouth wasn’t responding. Nothing was. 

His mouth moved, laughing at something Laurent had said. Laurent looked at him, eyes shining, smiling.

Damen screamed again, and his body continued to ignore him. This _thing_  that had taken hold of him had left no gaps in its armor for Damen to break through. 

It had been two days. At first, Damen had been sure Laurent would notice. That had been before the thing had cracked its way through his mind, easily able to play the part of him with access to all of Damen’s memory to serve as a script. Now, even Damen could scarcely believe it wasn’t him.

But this thing, whatever it was, had surely not taken over him to laugh at Laurent’s jokes and to benevolently rule their kingdom. Unfortunately, Damen couldn’t seem to look into its brain the way it looked into his. He could only feel it around the edges of his consciousness, shoving in on him. 

Damen was screaming. He was fighting. He wouldn’t stop. It couldn’t keep its guard up forever. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	110. Laurent/Damen - Laurent Courting Damen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent courts Damen

At first, Damen didn’t realize what was happening. It was subtle, little things, that escaped notice if he wasn’t looking for them. A few flowers on a table. A new book, positioned where Damen would easily notice it. 

It had been going on for weeks before Damen realized, but looking back he could pick out every instance. 

He shook his head fondly. Leave it to Veretians to be so up front about sex but so subtly shy about courtship. He doubted he would ever truly understand Veretian customs. 

But he did understand Laurent’s uncertain, hesitant, genuine expressions of affection. He returned in a similar fashion. Arranged the flowers over the fireplace. Left the book out, the bookmark obvious, proclaiming that it had been read. 

“You are difficult to buy gifts for, Damen,” Laurent said one evening, two months after the unique version of courtship had begun. 

“You seem to have been doing well enough,” Damen replied. “I’ve been enjoying them.”

It was hard to tell in the dim candlelight of their room, but Damen thought Laurent reddened a little at that. “Well, I _would_  like to think I know you decently well by now.”

“Considering we’ve been married for ten months now, I should hope so. What made you decide to start leaving them now?”

Laurent shrugged, the shrug that meant it mattered very much but he didn’t want to admit that it did, even to himself. “It didn’t feel right to skip over the courtship process entirely. I know we’re going about this all in a rather unusual order, but that’s no reason to forsake it all together, is it?”

Damen propped himself up on his elbows, leaned over, and kissed Laurent. “Well, I hardly need to be convinced to love you at this point, but I do appreciate the sentiment.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	111. Laurent/Damen - Popsicle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent eating a popsicle

_You’re doing that on purpose_. The words got partway up Damen’s throat, but then lodged there and referred to go farther. His mouth just hung up open uselessly as he stared. 

Laurent, pretending to be unaware of Damen’s distress, licked a stripe of popsicle juice from where it had trickled down his wrist, his tongue moving far more slowly than necessary. He looked over at Damen, head tilted so he had to look at Damen through his eyelashes. 

If Damen had not been sitting down already, he would have collapsed. As it was, his shorts were getting unpleasantly tight. 

And Laurent was continuing to pretend to have no idea what he was doing. If Damen had thought himself capable of standing he might have strangled him. Or kissed him. Or ripped that stupid popsicle out of his hand and thrown him to the ground. 

“Are you alright, Damen?” Laurent asked, his tone one of false innocence. He knew what effect he was having. Of course he did. Laurent always knew what he was doing. It was immensely frustrating.

Damen tried to glare at him, but Laurent was standing framed against the sun, his hair swept to one side to keep it from falling into his eyes, and he really was the most beautiful thing Damen had ever seen. 

“Just…” he began, then stopped, breathed, and tried again. “Hurry up with that thing so I can take you inside, would you?”

Laurent smirked around the popsicle. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	112. Erasmus/Torveld - Horses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Torveld teaching Erasmus how to ride a horse

“It isn’t going to eat you, Erasmus.”

Erasmus did not appear to be convinced. “It keeps moving.”

“It _is_  a living animal.”

“All the more reason for me to get off it.” Erasmus shifted his weight, possibly considering dismounting, and the horse pulled itself in a brief circle. Erasmus’ knuckles went white clutching at the reins as though it had just taken off running with him. 

Torveld was trying not to laugh, but it was getting harder by the minute. “Erasmus, you just have to relax. You’re making it nervous.”

“ _I’m_  making _it_  nervous?” Erasmus asked incredulously, his voice squeaking. “It’s huge!”

“It’s still a prey animal. Why is this so nerve wracking for you? It isn’t as though you’re unused to horses.”

“I’m fine when I’m at eye level with them. I don’t much care for sitting on them.”

Torveld had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing at how ridiculous the younger man looked, bent over the horse’s neck, reins wrapped around his hands, eyes wide. The horse, for it’s part, was looking down, clearly considering whether or not it was in the mood to find something to eat. “Would you like me to ride with you for a bit? Would that help?”

“What I would like would be to get down.”

Torveld couldn’t think of another time Erasmus had been so flippant towards people he viewed as his ‘superiors’ despite having lost his collar some time ago. It was good to know that he was plenty willing to push back when he felt the situation called for it. 

Of course, Torveld was still going to insist that he learn how to ride a horse. He could hardly go through life completely on foot. Either he would one day want to leave and would be better off with a horse to help him carry his belongings and remove any limits from how far he could go, or else he would stay with Torveld and accompany him on diplomatic trips - which were mostly made on horseback. 

“I promise, it will be very easy once you relax. The horse wants to obey you, you just have to calm down enough to tell it what you want.”

“I just told _you_  what I want. I want to _get down_.” He looked down at Torveld, then farther down to the ground, and frowned. “I’m pretty sure I’m stuck.”

“I promise I’ll help you down when we’re done. But I would like you to at least _walk_  a little bit today. Please?”

Erasmus pouted at him for a moment. “ _Fine_. But you are going to make this up to me later.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	113. Laurent/Damen - Kittens

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent with kittens

“The Ice Prince is dead,” Nikandros said, his voice stunned. 

Damen snorted, looking over at his friend. “Is this being followed by ‘long live the Ice King’?”

Nikandros gestured towards Laurent. “Damianos. You can’t be serious. _Look_  at that! I’ll never be able to be afraid of him again!”

Damen followed his friend’s hand to where Laurent was sitting on the ground, covered in no fewer than six kittens. One had its tiny claws hooked into the fabric of his shirt and was hanging there limply. Another was balanced on his shoulder and was licking his chin. Still another was butting its head into his hand and mewing pitifully, demanding his attention. If Laurent noticed the presence of his audience, he didn’t care. 

Damen smirked. “I’m sure he’ll find a way to remind you of his ruthless side.”

“Nope. Never going to happen. I am never going to be able to look at him and see anything other than kittens. No one is scary after being covered in kittens. No one.”

“People can be scary with cats,” Laurent said, his tone making it clear he’d been aware of them since the beginning. “They won’t be kittens forever.”

Damen raised an eyebrow. “We are not owning six cats.”

“I don’t recall asking for _your_  opinion, Damianos.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	114. Laurent/Damen - Haunted House

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Modern AU Laurent and Damen going through a haunted house

“Nikandros and Jord _never find out about this_ ,” Laurent said through gritted teeth, barely getting the words out before a sudden noise and flash of light had him jumping back, yanking Damen’s hand along with him.

“We’re taking this to our graves,” Damen agreed a few minutes later, when they finally stopped to catch their breath in between the rows of corn. 

“Let’s go through the haunted maze, Laurent,” Laurent said in a harsh whisper, his tone mocking. “It’ll be fun, Laurent. It’s not like it takes over an hour to get through it or anything, Laurent.”

“I’m sorry, okay? You were right and I was wrong. Are you happy now?”

“ _No!_  I’m not going to be happy until we get out of this damn thing, and even then you are going to have to buy me dinner at _least -”_ The end of his tirade was cut off at the sound of a chainsaw revving somewhere not nearly far off enough, and, despite both of them knowing full well that they were being _ridiculous,_  that it was just _actors_ , they were off running again, holding each other’s hands in matching death grips, both of them willing to swear to anyone who asked that _they_  weren’t scared, they were doing this for the benefit of the other. 

The parking lot was the best sight either of them had ever seen, and they were halfway through it before the adrenaline slowed enough for them to stop and look back at the field they’d finally stumbled out of. 

“For the record,” Laurent said, his heart still pounding, his hands still sweating, his knuckles still clenched white in Damen’s hand, “I really, _really_  hate stuff like this.”

“You could have said something before we went in.”

“If you think I am _ever_  admitting to not liking haunted houses and the like to that oaf you call your best friend-”

“Yeah, yeah, you and Nik have to have your damn pride.”

“ _You_  could have said. _You_  don’t even like scary movies.”

“What, you’re the only one allowed to have pride.”

Laurent shook his head. “Come on. We’re leaving, and _you_  are going to buy me dessert to make up for putting me through that.” He began tugging Damen towards their car.

“Wait, but we’re Jord and Nik’s ride home. They’ll be stuck here if we just leave.”

“ _Good_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	115. Laurent/Damen - Haunted House Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent, Damen, and Nikandros go through a haunted house. (continuation of the previous chapter)

“I can’t believe you two were so scared that you just _left_  us there,” Nik said, collapsing into the backseat of Damen’s car. “It’s freezing out here!”

“We weren’t scared,” Laurent said coolly, turning to face Nik and Jord as he sipped at his hot chocolate. “We just didn’t appreciate you two running off to go make out in the cornfield.”

“That’s not what we were doing!” Jord protested, turning red anyway. “You two are the ones who got lost.”

“Either way,” Nik said, “don’t you think it was awfully immature of you to just run off for two hours.”

Damen shrugged, trying not to smile and not quite succeeding. “Maybe. But it’s not as though _you’ve_  never done anything immature. Maybe you’ll think twice before dragging us all out to haunted mazes in the future.”

“But you two weren’t scared, right?”

“Of course not! What do you take us for?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


	116. Laurent/Damen - Arranged Marriage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Laurent and Damen have an arranged marriage

There had been a time in Laurent’s life when he had thought he would forgive Auguste for anything. 

That had been before he’d married him off to the newly crowned king of Akielos. 

Laurent wasn’t sure which he hated more; the king, or his kingdom. The king was a brute; loud, easily entertained, overly enthusiastic about alcohol, fond of fights, and always surrounded by equally loud and obnoxious friends. The kingdom was hot, full of people who wore too few clothes, and was so overwhelmingly alien that Laurent could barely even bring himself to leave the palace to go for rides. 

It was too hot for horses anyway.

“Haven’t you read that book already?” Damen asked, stepping into their room. Laurent hated that. _Their_  room. 

“Twice.”

“That good, huh?” Damen was smiling at him; that casual grin that seemed to slide onto his face at the slightest provocation. 

“No. I’m just out of others.” He’d had to leave a great many of his books at home and the library here was nowhere near as big as the one Laurent was used to. And so many of them were just about war strategy and recounting the numbers of old battles. Not even the interesting sort of history. 

Damen’s smile seemed to waver a little and a vicious part of Laurent was glad to see it. He saw no reason for Damen to be pleased with this arrangement when he was so miserable about it. “Do you want to go riding?”

Laurent was almost impressed that Damen was aware that Laurent enjoyed riding. But then, maybe he wasn’t. Maybe _he_  just enjoyed riding. Maybe he didn’t even mean riding, maybe he meant hunting. Laurent liked hunting well enough, but hunting meant crowds and noises and competition and he had no interest in it here. “What, with you? No.”

Damen threw himself down in the chair nearest Laurent. He seemed incapable of doing anything without making something of a spectacle out of the process. “Why do you hate me so much?”

Laurent shrugged as though none of it mattered. “I married you because my brother asked me to. Begged, really. I did it for him, and for the good of my country. Nowhere in that contract did I agree I would be friends with you. Nowhere did I say that I would care about _your_  country the way I care about _mine_. If I had my way, Damianos, this would be a long distance marriage, where we only see each other a few times a year at big events. _I don’t want to be here_. And I shouldn’t have to justify that feeling to you just because we said some fancy words during a ceremony.” He hadn’t meant to say so much. But once the first sentence had left his mouth, the rest just tumbled out. He’d meant every word though. 

Damen was quiet for a long few minutes. When he spoke, it actually sounded as though he was choosing his words carefully. “You didn’t want to marry me. I understand that. I’ll admit, I wasn’t all that enthusiastic about it myself when it first came up. But it happened. Shouldn’t we at least try to make sure we can live with each other?”

“I don’t _want_  to live with you.”

“You don’t have much of a choice at this point, Laurent.”

Laurent hated the way his name sounded on Damen’s tongue. He hated that Damen’s Veretian was better than Laurent’s Akielon. He hated that Damen was probably right. 

“Come on,” Damen said, standing up. “Go for a ride with me. Just the two of us. We don’t have to talk if you don’t want to. Let’s just… Let’s just see if we can get through an hour or two without fighting.”

Laurent sighed, but Damen didn’t seem inclined to let this drop. He closed his book, not bothering to mark his page, and stood to join his husband. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always up for prompts over on [my tumblr.](http://hollowistheworld.tumblr.com/)


End file.
